Hillbillies in a Barn

More Christmas Dresses

2011-12-30T22:49:00.001-05:00

Christmas Dresses

2011-12-07T10:40:00.003-05:00

1946 Dress

2011-07-13T19:54:00.007-04:00

Michigan Homemaker Award

2011-07-13T19:46:00.008-04:00

I am alive

2010-10-19T00:51:00.002-04:00

I have gotten a few comments recently so I know there are people out there reading.

Excuses????
My daughter stole my camera.
My new Internet is not friendly to loading lots of pictures.
I am busy (wait that is all the time)

Recent adventures: cheese making with raw goat and cow milk; cleaning out the upstairs of the barn; sewing a (loosely) Middle Ages costume for one of my suppliers; enjoying the beautiful fall weather; nursing a cold, plus the colds of my children; hosting a small group for church; canning applesauce and tomatoes; making soap; driving to town for various appointments; supporting J in her first theatrical role, including driving to some rehearsals; being single parent while Todd has been in South America.

J promised to share some pictures with me, then I can pass on some to you. You can also checkout her blog to see what we have been doing.

HOMEMAKER OF THE YEAR | tricountycitizen.mihomepaper.com | The Tri County Citizen

2010-08-01T20:21:00.001-04:00

Here is the brief article: HOMEMAKER OF THE YEAR tricountycitizen.mihomepaper.com The Tri County Citizen

Fair week: no pictures.

2010-07-31T22:53:00.007-04:00

It was a crazy week here this week. I kept friends and family up to date via Facebook. Here is brief a journal of the week.

July 23 at 11:55pm: Still entries are due tomorrow at the Saginaw County Fair Grounds. Almost done..just a twin quilt to bind and then garden crops/flowers in the am. Then a little break until Tuesday...see you at the fair!!!

July 24 at 8:54pm: Took 88 still exhibits to the fair today. Then took a 3 hour nap.

July 26 at 10:41pm: Animals are all tucked into their fair homes. Hope the goats stay put better this year than last. I am already tired. If Todd thinks this thing is going to be restful I may have to sick our 4-H leader on him with some jobs.
Looking forward to seeing you at the fair.

www.mlive.com Saginaw County Fair begins today
Hundreds of volunteers and hundreds of animals are expected to attract more than 20,000 attendees to the Saginaw County Fairgrounds this week.

In the article is a picture of my hand holding my (well my daughter's) goats in one hand. I believe with the other I was holding a chicken.

July 27 at 8:05am: Less than an hour until show time.
Goats today. See you at the Fair!

July 27 at 7:33pm: Had an great and exhausting day at the Fair...highlights: G, Grand and Reserve grand champion Angora Goats, best of show for G and J in still exhibits, lots of blues for J and I especially.
-Josie {typing for Mommy} Oh, and she won the *very prestigious* "Home maker of the Year" award! :) :) :)
GO MOMMY!!

Aunt Ruth: Will us plain old ordinary house wives be able to associate with
...the royalty up there?Don't let Todd forget this award!!!
Me: You plain ordinary "housewives" are my mentors and heroes

http://www.wnem.com/ 96th Annual Saginaw County Fair Begins In Chesaning N is in a video segment getting her bunny out. The little girl interviewed is in our club and was in my embroidery class..yes she really is that pretty and sweet! She won Jr. Showmanship for goats. And will show her Turkey tomorrow and Bunny on Thursday

Wednesday 7/28 AM: Starting another long exciting day at the county fair...poultry (2 girls and 6 birds), style show, and public speaking (4 kids and 5 speeches)
And of course I will be there in my crown and sash--maybe some make up.

PM: J, N and D did dramatic readings. N had a costume that I finished last night at 11, chanting to my self 'I am my mother". J's was amazing. G did a group thing on goats then and individual on dog care.
G and N did well with their chickens. Unfortunately they were competing against each other. G also got a blue ribbon for the goat obstacle course with her dwarf.
Todd stayed with some of the kids to watch tractor racing. I just put little girls to bed. I plan on them crashing.

Wednesday at 9:52pm: Another long tiring day at the fair. G got 3rd (by 1/2 point to 2nd) for poultry showmanship. The 5 birds received 2 first, 2 second and a fourth. G and Hugs (goat) won a blue for the obstacle course (she can get him to do almost anything). Speech/reading placings were not posted when I left.
The little girls fell asleep before I could kiss them goodnight. Todd has the rest watching tractor racing and fireworks; so I am trying to decide between a hot bath or a cool shower and then the hot pad and a good book.
Tomorrow is Bunny and the dog show. And I really want to watch the showmanship round robin where all of the best showmanship kids compete switching animals.

Thursday at 10:31pm: Another fun filled day at the fair. G and her team won best of show for their demonstration. J won first for her reading and N second (different age groups). N's rabbit showmanship class was very competitive and she learned a lot.; her buck placed #5. Spent the day with friends...and we saw a bunch of friends from church today. That made the day go faster for the little ones.

Tomorrow is 3 horse classes for G, the auction (we don't participate, but friends do) and the rodeo (spectating only)

The highlight for our club was that of the 3 top showmanship levels 2 went to Stoney River Riders members. And the top points went to our dear friend Paige Carman.

Only two more days of the Saginaw County Fair. If you haven't been out come on out. Today is the youth Pleasure Horse Show and the Rodeo. Tomorrow is Youth Speed Horse show. Of course all the cute animals are still there and the rides and the still exhibits.
Sunday will be a serious day of rest around here (after we get everything and everyone home from the fair grounds).
Only 2 more days to see me in my tiara and sash, except for rare public appearances...I hope that doesn't scare you away

Friday PM: Fair report: G earned a first, a second and two fourths in her western pleasure walk/trot classes. J and N helped with the livestock buyers' dinner. I got to watch some of the auction. It was amazing to see the fair community come together to bid on a donation Lamb...the winning bid raised over $5000 for the fair grounds. Made me cry. It was beautiful.

Stayed for the rodeo and fireworks. The children and I were there from 9 am to 10 pm. A very long day.

The Argus-PressSag. http://argus-press.com/news/community/chesaning/article_e77d2d1a-9b1d-11df-aad3-001cc4c03286.html Goats take their shot at ‘obstinate’ course County Fair event pits goat in obstacle competition
The "obstinate course" is hilarious to watch.
We cheer and laugh and cheer and laugh.
They are doing it again tomorrow...well later today...at 4 PM in front of the horse barn

Finally G's show pants are in the dryer and I can get in bed.
Tomorrow is the youth Speed Horse Show, G will be riding 3-4 classes depending on how the horse is doing. See you at the fair.

Saturday 11:PM: Only a couple of events today. The Youth Horse Speed Show started out a bit damp, but it became a beautiful day. G earned 2 thirds, a fifth and a sixth in her first speed show. Later Hugs earned a 6th place for the second obstacle course. His pen-mate Heidi came in last I think. It's easier to push or pull a little goat around than a big one.

Fair ends tonight: relieved and exhausted and sad and happy and overwhelmed (at the mess in my house that I haven't even been in most of the week.)
Last year was good, but this year we were more involved, and it was just an amazing experience. The effort the organizers, volunteers, parents and especially the kids made this week is stupendous.

I am not ready to talk about next year's fair yet, but ready to think about preparing, mostly animals and their issues, for what we think we want to do in the next year with out "farm"
I have been eyed for an even more involved position when T is big.
Even through all the just hanging around the little ones had to do while they watched and waited for the older ones they are sad that there is no Fair tomorrow.

We have a 4-H meeting Tuesday so we won't go into 4-H withdrawal to deeply. My children all made new friends or strengthened old friendships.

Tonight after dinner Todd asked the children what their favorite thing was at the fair. T: Puppet show, M: candy (at the vendor booths), D the electric trains, N riding rides with 4-H friends, G winning gold fish at the midway (more animals), J hanging out with and getting to know 4-H friends, Todd seeing em get my award and the rodeo. I think my favorite was the camaraderie of the fair family and being part of it or seeing my children challenged and rewarded for hard work.

Hopefully J or I will get pictures on our blog this week.

Upcoming County Fair

2010-07-15T21:48:00.001-04:00

Friends have asked about our participation in the Saginaw county fair. I wanted to let everyone know what our schedule is like during fair week. We will be at the fairgrounds everyday of the fair; you will most likely find us in the Jr. Livestock Barn or the Small Animal Barn. Please come say hello.

Tuesday is Veterans Day—Vets get in free.
9:30 G will be showing her four goats
Wednesday is Senior Citizen’s Day--$3 off admission
9:30 N and G will be showing their chickens
2:00 Nwill be participating in the style show.
3:00 (following style show) J, G, N and D will be doing public speaking in the still exhibit building.
4:00 G’s goat will be in the goat obstacle course.
Thursday is Pre-Schooler’s day—ages 2-5 receive $3 off admission
9:30 N will be showing her rabbit
1:00 G will be doing the dog show.
Friday and Saturday
G will be participating in the youth horse show (on a barrowed horse).

Our family also has many still exhibits that will be on display. The children will have embroidery, photography, sewing, crafts, art, culinary and agriculture displays. I am entering sewing, crochet, photography, jam, floriculture and agriculture categories. Todd said he wanted to enter the deck, but we couldn’t figure out what category it was in.

Upcoming County Fair

2010-07-15T21:48:00.000-04:00

Friends have asked about our participation in the Saginaw county fair. I wanted to let everyone know what our schedule is like during fair week. We will be at the fairgrounds everyday of the fair; you will most likely find us in the Jr. Livestock Barn or the Small Animal Barn. Please come say hello.

Tuesday is Veterans Day—Vets get in free.
9:30 G will be showing her four goats
Wednesday is Senior Citizen’s Day--$3 of admission
9:30 N and G will be showing their chickens
2:00 N will be participating in the style show.
3:00 (following style show) J, G, N and D will be doing public speaking in the still exhibit building.
4:00 G’s goat will be in the goat obstacle course.
Thursday is Pre-Schooler’s day—ages 2-5 receive $3 off admission
9:30 N will be showing her rabbit
1:00 G will be doing the dog show.
Friday and Saturday
Gwill be participating in the youth horse show (on a barrowed horse).

Our family also has many still exhibits that will be on display. The children will have embroidery, photography, sewing, crafts, art, culinary and agriculture displays. I am entering sewing, crochet, photography, jam, floriculture and agriculture categories. Todd said he wanted to enter the deck, but we couldn’t figure out what category it was in.

Home baked goodies for sale.

2010-07-13T23:03:00.004-04:00

Well not yet, but now it is legal in Michigan!

I looked into the kitchen thing when we were doign the design work of finishing the basement. It appeared to be too much bother and cast to put a certified kitchen in so when I saw this bill was in committee I changed my basement plans hoping, praying and even writing an email that it would pass. I see that it has!!!! Yeah. The girls can sell cookies and pies from our own kitchen.

Here is the scoop.

Update via my Super Blogger

2010-07-10T01:54:00.003-04:00

J's blog Has all the latest.

She has time to take some amazing photos. I have been putting out fires, getting things ready for the county fair and being a mommy.

The cute ducks went back home to the neighbor's. I think they were driven away by our dog who keeps digging out of his kennel. Tonight Todd installed some cement board around the base of the kennel so hopefully that will help.

July has been busy so far and will only crescendo until the County Fair the last week of July. We have something on the calendar almost everyday. 75% of it is 4-H related.

Jemima and Jeremy

2010-06-29T00:09:00.004-04:00

Friday our neighbor stopped by. We started talking about the power outage we had earlier in the week. He was surprised that we did not have a generator. he had a second one that he wasn't using and told us we could have it for a good deal. Todd checked it out. Turns out that the generator came with 2 ducks.
I guess these 2 ducks were not getting along with another two he had and he wanted to separate them. At their original home they used to live with chickens, the chickens left (to our freezer) and the ducks took over the hen house. They had never been on the pond. They loved it.

Now they are free to roam. They have stayed pretty close to the pond. They are eating all the time. Hopefully, they are eating things we don't want. Like weeds, algae and bugs in the pond. They also like the grass.

It turns out that Todd was told that I wanted ducks. I don't remember telling anyone that. I did think it would be fun to watch ducks on the pond, and it is. Watch what you think out load around your children. Now the three little ones are fighting over whose ducks they actually are. The ducks do not go near anyone so I am not sure why any particular child would want to "own" them. They don't cuddle, they even swim the other way when you get close. Oh well.

Sticking with our literary theme I named the girl (we are assuming they are a male female pair) Jemima from Beatrix Potter stories. Jeremy just goes with Jemima. I can't tell them apart and we just call them "the ducks". But it is fun to give them names.

I hope I can get one of the children to build them at little lean-to. They didn't like the hard rain we had Sunday.

Father's Day Weekend

2010-06-25T23:34:00.003-04:00

We had a very busy weekend last weekend. I was planning to blog the whole thing, but J beat me to it. It is amazing how a young lady can find time for that kind of stuff while the mom of many can't fit it in. (Plus I'd rather be sewing) She swiped some of my photos so I will swipe her posts. (Just click on the pink letters to see the pictures.)

Friday evening our church community group had a potluck. We always eat very well.

Saturday our 4-H club sponsored a horse show and we helped.

Sunday the oldest son of a dear family got married. It was a small wedding and we were honored to have been invited. We met this family when they were a small family of 6. I remember saying after knowing them for less than a year: "I will never have 4 children and I will NEVER homeschool, they are nuts". Well, now It seems kind of funny that I thought that. We have 6 children now and they have 9. The mom is still my hero in all that she gets done with a quiet and gentle spirit. So as we start the season of witnessing young people we have seen grow up I think I will cry more and more, tears of blessing. I teared up as Dustin stood beaming as he saw his new bride walk down the aisle. In my eyes he will be 10 years old (the age he was when we met) forever.

Eight of the nine children in this family have participated in restored to Glory Dance Ministry. The youngest is still too young. So it fit that there was dancing at the reception, this is unusual for the weddings we have been to within our church family. The children did most of the dancing, but Todd and I danced one dance and I got our on the floor with the children for a few. The host family has quite the collection of moves. The poor Norris children are not rhythmically gifted in the same way, but they kept up in effort if not grace. Unfortunately the flash on our camera is being weird and very few of the pictures turned out well . But I did get some pictures for documentation: The father of the groom and one of our pastors were both caught on film (wait it's digital, so how does that go?) I also have blurry pictures the groom's brother J.P. dancing with little T (he is on his knees). The younger boys were also bustin' some moves were to fast for my camera.and the mother of the groom participating in the last line dance. J.P. also lead a sort of Conga lineBride's Maids', flower girls and TIn the background here you can see a couple of the groomsmen This is the youngest of the family. She was adorable, but ready for this whole wedding business to be over.Finally J got out on the dance floor. She made this Sense and Sensibility Dress for the occasion. The bride shares my love for sewing. It just happened that all of the girls (including me) except one were wearing homemade dresses. And many of the men just couldn't miss the golf thing....I understand it was a big one. I am not sure why Todd, who hates golf, was there. He claimed something about bonding.

Monday: Since we had a social engagement on Father's Day and the blue gill were still biting in Rose City, Todd took Monday off and we spent the day fishing and sleeping and swimming. OK, I did the sleeping and the kids swam and fished a little. J read a book and kept me company while I snored. Todd, with some help, caught 40+ bluegill.

Chickens and young ladies

2010-06-17T22:23:00.005-04:00

I snapped these pictures while I had the camera out taking pictures of our new goats. Who by the way have settled down a bit but don't like to be more than a few feet from each other.

This is one of our new Ameracaunas trying to figure out how to get back with the flock.

This is Esmeralda. The day we picked up the chicks she was walking funny and we thought it best to leave her with the 4-H leader and let her deal with the eventuality of her death. Well 2 weeks later she was doing just fine so she got sent home with us. She got picked on when we first put her in with the others. But after a couple days where they could see each other, but not pull her feathers out she go a long much better. She is smaller than the others, but if she lays eggs like the rest we'll be happy.

This is my friend George. Chicks grow and change faster than people babies and remember much less. But she will always have a place in my heart. N has chosen her to be one of her show birds for the county fair.

This is Whitey (G's bird of choice from this group), Phantom (N's bantam), and one of the no-name birds.

N found this outfit at goodwill and has decided that for the costume parade for rabbits and poultry at the fair she will be Elpheba from Wicked (AKA the Wicked Witch from Wizard of Oz) and Zoser/Flops (her bunny) will be a winged monkey. In wicked he has a name,but I can't remember it, you will have to ask my Wicked expert.

Speaking of....

J stuck this silly pose as I walked by:

Then she sat down on a log with the pond in the back ground. I thought it would make a lovely picture. But she wouldn't smile. I asked why and she said she hadn't brushed her teeth and had food in them.

So she did a quick swish and clean her teeth the best she could. I couldn't see anything, but she is conscious of stuff in her braces that she is ready to be rid of.

In the end I got a beautiful picture of my eldest young lady.

Quilt

2010-06-17T22:06:00.002-04:00

I made this quilt for my brother and his bride for Christmas. I didn't have a very good picture in my Christmas pictures, so he sent one to me. He said no props were added. The pictures behind the quilt are one that my grandmother had in her house, then hey were in my mom's house. I am glad my brother has them displayed in such a prominent place. I believe the pictures of my mom and her parents were taken in the mid 1960's
Thanks Greg.

Romantic Dresses

2010-06-14T23:55:00.008-04:00

A few weeks ago I made M and T each two dresses from Jennie Chancey's Romantic Girls' Dress. I have made this pattern a couple times before. Sensibility patterns are very easy to follow. So I whipped up these dresses in a few days, but I never posted them. So here they are:

Todd has taken the children fishing recently. M thinks it is a great thing...time with Daddy doing what he loves to do. So when Todd thought he'd check on our little fish (we stocked our pond last spring) M was right there to help.

"Yeah, I got one!"

"Keep reelin' M, keep going"

"This is getting hard!"

"He's kind of small."

"Ooops, he swallowed the hook. Don't want that to happen, these fish have to grow to be dinner some day."

So Todd let M and T feed worms to the fish.

All out of worms. Bummer

So we found something else to do.

Dresses made from this particular pattern are very good twirling dresses

I think that was too much twirling for T

Chasing tadpoles and minnows

Last year we didn't have any wildflowers. I was sad. This year we have a ton! The girls love to pick, so we have many bouquets gracing our table. The things that are blooming and thus on our table are a flower that looks like a daisy, but stinks; white yarrow; and various variety of clover, much of which we seeded. Now that they are allowed to pick the wild flowers they are much better about not picking flowers in my gardens.

T had a little trouble with a choice for bunch of flowers. This white yarrow really wanted to stay where it was,

"I love my sister"

Elinore and Marianne

2010-06-13T23:10:00.006-04:00

About 9 weeks ago I saw an add for two female pygora goats not too far from us. G had talked about getting some sort of fiber animal for some time. We visited them along with our 4-H leader and decided we wanted them.

Today was the day to go pick them up, now they are almost 9 weeks old. We left from church to drive to Lapeer. After a couple stops, lunch and TSC for last minute necessities and the latest MaryJane FarmGirl magazine, we were almost there. Even Todd asked "Are we there yet? Lake Huron should be right over the next hill."

We arrived to find a note taped to the door. We were about 45 min after the time I had said we'd be there. But the number the owner left for me to call wasn't working. So I hid the money and found the kids with their mama.

None of them were real sure we should be there, but the kids are little enough that they could be convinced. The Mama was small enough to handle too for that matter being 50% pygmy

They were very quiet on the way home, cuddling together in the borrowed animal crate.

Their grand entrance into the barn

Heidi had to see what was going on. (or maybe she was looking for a treat.) She responded with a motherly bleat to the kids' little baby bleats. We have to keep them separate for a period of time. Kind of like quarantine when you bring animals into a new country.

They were hesitant to come out of the crate, but came eventually

They found the water and salt block right away, but weren't too sure that we were safe. When G put the grain in their stall they got busy with that. It took a bit for them to be sure the alfalfa was good, but when they did they munched away and got closer to us.

If we got a hold of them they would sit quietly on our laps until we let go. Then they were off to the other side of their stall.

I can't tell them apart very well yet. Marianne has curlier hair on her body, less hair on her head and is bigger. She was the one to go to the grain and alfalfa first.

Elinore has more fluff on her head, but is smaller and less curly on her body. She took a little longer to warm up to her new home.

Here is an up close of the fiber:

It is still short because they are babies, but it is very soft and curly. Their dad's fur is very long and curly.

In this picture they are standing right in front of the door to their stall. The top of the door is about the same distance as from the bottom board to the top board.

After we had the girls settled and had moved on to other things, Todd was putting his good fishing poles away in the barn when we heard hollers for help.

Nothing panicky, but obviously something he didn't want to deal with alone. One of the goats (he can't tell them apart either, he might never be able to) had jumped the gate to the stall. He managed to coral them then head to the house for the cordless screwdriver.

The outside of the door.

We thought for sure it would be tall enough, but one of the kids had shown us her climbing ability when we were trying to get her out of her original home: She was on top of a box that was on top of an old kitchen cupboard. She jumped from there into the adjoining goat stall. After we got her sister out of the stall the climber jumped back in from the next stall. Then while we were securing the pen she climbed to the top of a pile of hay bales. Actually, with my back the way it is, it was easier to get her down from there than up into my arms to carry her to the van.

He grabbed an extra board and made the door a bit taller.

They supervised the redesign of their new home from the top of a dog house. We got the dog house for Hugs and Heidi. Hugs (the dwarf) like to stand on it to be tall. Heidi doesn't need any help to get up. She is our resident mountain goat. Todd and G made a small pasture for Hugs and Heidi. Heidi won't stay in. The fence is standard cattle panels and the door is a palate that has been added to so that it it taller than I am. We wondered if Heidi didn't "tell" the kids how to get over the door.

It should be plenty tall now, but we have checked on them a few times. It seems to have worked. They have been calling for their mama, but haven't escaped again.

Goodnight Heidi, take care of the babies.

First Horse Show

2010-06-07T22:46:00.007-04:00

G has been taking riding lessons for 3 years now. Her passion for horses has only grown; even when she had to muck out stalls for lessons. This spring I talked with our 4-H leader to try to figure out a way we could make it so she could show. Actually, I started asking about M doing lead line with one of her daughters. M follows in G's red hair and passions for activity and animals. I thought that might be easier to make happen. Jennifer in her wisdom, said that it really wouldn't be fair to G and her hard work for M to show before G.

So we worked it out that M could do lead line with P Jennifer's oldest daughter on Fanny and G could do showmanship with Carly, Jennifer's second daughter's, T, horse.

Jennifer told M that she would be helping P with her horse for the show. Wow! did that make M happy. I think she asked everyday "When am I going to P's to help her with her horse?"

We managed to get a practice in at their house and one at the arena. We also had a mini practice and my girls got to help get the horses ready for the show (bath and brush).

Jennifer has been a horse-lady forever and a 4-H leader for a long time. She does a great job. Anyway, she has quite the collection of riding wear. So after the first practice we had a fashion show. Very fun. Sorry no pictures. Mary found a shirt to wear with her bright pink split skirt and T's helmet matches and fits. G found a black hat and jacket to wear with her black boots and khaki jeans...wow did show look grown up.

G has a hat that her grandfather bought out West and carried back on his lap in a cramped car in the late 1950's. She will wear it with pride, but the many years on the closet shelf has incurred some wear and tear. Mostly it needs reshaped. So before show season is over we will have that done.
G was so excited and nervous I don't think she slept well all week before the show. But it all paid off.

She put on her show clothes and was transformed from my little busy, rough and tumble girl to a sophisticated horse-lady. Wow. I barely recognized her. She carried herself with such confidence I rarely see in her. The only other place was the goat show ring last summer.

OK enough mommy ramble on to pictures:

No grandparents were able to come, but our church family was represented by the Schlitts from our small group. And our neighbor Mrs. Cooper brought her Granddaughter. G works for the Coopers feeding their mini horse (and a Morgan who was recently sold) and the cats and keeping the plants watered. What a treat to have them there.

Waiting for her class...kind of nervous.

My little and not so little cowgirls.

Showmanship is judged on how well the participant presents the horse, not at all on the horse. They have to do a pattern of sorts. The pattern was a little different for the levels for this show. G participated in the the walk-trot level; it is for beginners with only 1-2 years of show experience.

Her pattern was to walk to the judge, stop and set the horse while keeping the horse between her and the judge, then turn 90 degrees walk to a cone

Then turn and trot to the exit gate. Carly wasn't interested in going very fast. As they left the gate Jennifer had G make Carly do as she was told. Good learning for both girl and horse.

G got Carly to trot and went back to the trailer to let her rest. She almost missed her placing being called, but was brought to attention quickly enough to hear that she had earned first place!!! She said she teared up and didn't really believe it.

Great job G!!!

"Thank you Carly for being mostly good"

On the way to the ring. How P ended up alone with M and T and a horse I don't know, but they did great all the way to the other side of the arena.

Toes up, back straight.

In lead-line a small child usually 5-7 years old rides, but another experienced horseman is in control of the horse. They all get ribbons. It is a great learning experience.

They are led around the ring and have to change directions then line up to talk to the judge.

M had to answer a few questions for the judge. This judge was very patient and helpful with the little ones. M knew all the answers except she forgot the name of the horse. She said it was because she knew the mare had more than one name. Now she knows both. She also could answer a question she hadn't practiced and backed Franny up a step or two. In practicing for the show she had trouble remembering the color. Who has the color sorrel in their kindergarten crayon box?? So she kept repeating to herself, "sorrel, sorrel, sorrel," enough for her to remember and to drive her siblings nuts.

Happy with a job well done!

Showing off her ribbon. The white participation ribbon faded into to the lightly clouded sky. The weather couldn't have been better that day--partly sunny with a cool breeze.

My Friend George

2010-06-06T23:29:00.008-04:00

Our 4-H club had the opportunity to incubate eggs and hatch some chicks. We wanted to add to our laying stock so we borrowed a rooster to fertilize some eggs for us. He was low rooster on the totem pole at his home so he was enjoying life here. We didn't enjoy his noise as early as 4:30 AM and as late as 1 AM. So when we had all the eggs we needed he went home.

There was a bit of a mishap with the incubator and only about 18 of 70 eggs hatched. N fell in love with a little black fuzzball and bought him with some birthday money. He came with 4 other chicks. So we brought home 8 baby chicks: 1 old English Bantam and 7 Americanas (the bread we currently have). We were also given 4 Rhode Island Reds from another club member. The club will be trying to hatch more, but we don't have the rooster to get more eggs. The one we borrowed isn't coming back anytime soon. And we only wanted 4-6 more laying hens (odds being that more than half the babies would be male and become dinner) so club members were generous in helping us build our laying flock.

The baby chicks came home when they were 5 days old. We tried to have them in the garage, but they acted very poorly so we brought them into the laundry room. I like having them in my office and got to know them a bit. One in particular would stretch its neck out to see who was looking at it. I started calling it George since is seemed curious.

I would get him out and he seemed quite content to sit with me as I drank my afternoon iced coffee and checked my email.

Not too long after these pictures were taken the chick smell began to overwhelm the office and they moved outside. George has forgotten who I am and runs for cover when any human gets close to the chicken tractor. Oh, well. The good news is that it appears that George is a pullet (girl) and I won't have to eat my friend. Amazingly of the 12 baby chick we brought home only one appears to be a cockerel (boy). Come October we may start a small egg business or more to my girls' liking a bakery specializing in rich desserts containing lots of eggs.

6.1.10 Garden

2010-06-06T21:56:00.007-04:00

A number of plants that I planted from seed last year came back nice a healthy this spring. The comfrey I bought. It has gone crazy. the 5 plants in the front of the house have already been trimmed. Most of it I turned into mulch for the tomatoes. A bumble bee enjoying the remain comfrey blossoms. This one is in the back and will remain untrimmed for now.

The house from the garden

I had trouble getting lettuce going this spring. I think the combo of hot dry weather made it hard. I also started later that I normally would have. But it won't be long now before we get some home grown salad. I have never planted Lima beans. But in honor of a book called A bad Case of the Stripes I tried it this year. I thought this little group was interesting, showing many stages of growth.

This is the south garden. We didn't plant anything here last summer. It has 2 batches of the Carmans' wonderful manure, a crop of buckwheat and a crop of winter wheat tilled into it. From front to back we have mints and thyme, then garlic (planted last fall), Strawberries (from the Carmans' over flowing strawberry patch), then N's little personal garden. A row of sweet peppers, 3 rows of a variety of tomatoes, squash and pumpkins on the ladder, pickling and slicing cucumbers, pole beans, watermelon, more tomatoes and some herbs then D's sugar snap peas. Then in back to guard it all the dog's kennel.

Todd did add to the edging this spring with 2 dead birch trees that needed taken down. It won't be nice to burn so it is serving a purpose.

The heavier vines will be trained to climb up these ladders. They were in the barn.The other trellises are made from saplings that G cut down earning $0.50 each. Todd helped us screw the end frames together and the cross pieces just sit on the end frames. We will See how it works. It goes with the rustic edging, so it looks nice. I just hope it doesn't fall down.

The north bed we planted last year. Todd put the dividers up so the water and sandy soil would stay where I want it. Then we top dressed it with manure. From front to back: pennyroyal, mint, marigolds, and lemon balm; red, white and yellow onions; spinach and over flow lettuce; broccoli, most of it is from the store, I planted seeds but they did come up; kale; Nantes and purple carrots; potatoes; Basil; carrots, basil and kale; then the asparagus, rhubarb and horseradish. We also added a post to hold a second hose. The season started out hot and dry. I though the hose would be going all day everyday. We have finally gotten our May showers, in June. Still it has made us think about an irrigation system using the pond.

View of the garden from the front porch.

A delphinium bloom. I have an affinity for blue flowers. My bridesmaids carried dark blue delphinium. I have some that will bloom darker than this to match. I started these from seeds last year. they are tall enough that you can see them peeking over the window sill in the living room.

If you come to visit in August please bring your canning apron.

I have an excuse

2010-06-05T22:22:00.003-04:00

for not blogging...my computer is being a snail. I am not sure if it is my computer or my internet.

Coming soon to the barn blog will be the garden and our family's first horse show. When will depend on my patience with the cyber world.

I do want to type a small blurb about the horse show.
I was amazed with G's performance. As soon as she got in her show clothes she seemed transformed, kind of like Cinderella. She won first place in her first show in the walk trot showmanship class.

Later as I reflected on the day I thought of Mom. I would have loved to have had her here. I could just hear he say "Wow has she grown up" "She has found HER place" and the like. Plus I like to think that she would have praises for me.

I missed you especially today Mom.

Goat Quiz Bowl

2010-05-07T00:08:00.004-04:00

Here are a few pictures from the goat expo in East Lansing. I was at home with the other children, but J went along to document. This is the Jr. quiz bowl team from Saginaw County. They have been meeting since January to practice goat information.

G and two other "goat kids" about her age worked on solutions to a problem solving scenario, then had to present it to a judge. G also did an individual speech and a craft. She received 2 ribbons and tons of fun and experience.

New kids

2010-05-06T23:58:00.001-04:00

G wanted another animal this season. She went back and forth between sheep and goats but was sure she wanted a fiber animal. We had a guy look for us then we looked. IT took a while but I finally found these listed online. They live about 1.5 hours from here. We went to see them Wednesday. It was a long wet car ride, but with "expert" advice from our 4-H leader friend we put some money down. Now we have to decide about dehorning them or not (G's research project for the weekend) and wait until they are weaned. We decided to name them Elinor and Marianne (from Jane Austin's novel Sense and Sensibility)

This is them curled up in the cupboard with their mama (a pygora) guarding them. This is their papa an angora goat. Look at all that fiber!!

Actually our first new critter of the season was N's birthday present. She had been wanting a bunny since last year. While Todd was away on business I took the chance and bought her a mini-lop with a hutch and feeding equipment. Todd didn't complain and Natalie was thrilled.

His given name was Floppy, but when we found he is a boy Natalie wanted to change it to something more masculine. So now he is Zoser a character from the musical Aida.

Unrelated....

Why in the world did I think that G would get her "computer school" work done outside?

Distracted by little sister:Distracted by whatever was happening over by the pond:

I am sure there were many more distractions,

but it looks like she did concentrate for a little while at least.

The Day I turned 40

2010-04-18T19:13:00.000-04:00

I was awakened by a sweet little angel crawling in bed with me....well, she wasn't that sweet, it was over an hour before I planned to get up

Then we had a lovely breakfast of strawberry muffins G made that were left over from dinner the night before.

Just as I thought the day was going smoothly, someone says "There goes Bobby." Bobby is our dog...well, he's mostly my dog and D feeds him and G walks and tries to train him. He loves to wander but for safety he lives in a kennel. Well, now there is a hole under the fence.

So Gabbi spent the next hour or so trying to get Bobby back in the kennel, then realizing that wasn't going to work she tied him up to the picnic table with in reach of the pond.
Meanwhile Daniel took over the school work she was doign on the computer.Mary colored 5 pictures,And I got ready for a shower...before noon...amazing!!

I even planned to put on some make-up. It did happen, but after I called a friend to bring J home since we were running late.

So not too bad. We were supposed to leave at 11:30.

The 1.25 miles to the main road is generally smooth sailing

J did not think it was safe for me to drive and take pictures, so she grabbed for the camera

And took over the pictures.

This is the main route to "town" some woods and mostly farm fields.

The direct way to most of the places we go has a bridge out. The detour is minor
We beat Todd by enough time to go to the bathroom. It was a busy day at Horizon's, but we had reservations. We call ahead every time now since we take up so much room.

It is a buffet with at least 3 entrees, 2 veggies, a salad bar and the best....

a desert bar. My favorite is the pecan pie. They had just brought a whole one out as I was finishing my lunch...yummmmm.

This is what is left of D's dessert. He ate most of the icing and the bottom half, it had cherries in it.

After lunch I gave Todd a big smooch and was off for an afternoon of shopping ALONE.

My first stop was at a thrift store I had never been to. It was more like a garage sale than anything. In my brother's birthday wishes he suggested that I "Go do something fun to make you feel younger. Swing on a swing, eat a Happy Meal, paint some kid's face purple. " I was amazed to see the only paint they had was purple. I had to buy some for fun. I haven't painted anything yet.
My next stop was the one I was most looking forward toThis quilt shop is right around the corner from our old house. I have been on 2 retreats with these ladies. The fabric is beautiful. I was looking for some extra fabric to start a quilt for the basement guestroom. Matching more than one fabric is not a job to be done with helpers. It is a very kid friendly place, but the last time were there D gave M a bloody nose. One of the owners homeschooled her 5 children until they were in high school so we are kind of kindred spirits. Then I went to what is probably my favorite thrift/consignment store. They only carry ladies clothes, but in all sizes. I found a couple skirts I brought home. Right next door is another resale shop. They carry more brand names and formal things. J loves to look there. I rarely find my size, but like to look at the clothes when I can.

I tried to stop at one more thrift store but they were closed. And I was getting tired. Todd's little car is rough on my back. So I grabbed an Iced Tea and headed back to our place in the country.

When I got home this is what I found

School was still going on. I know they ran some errands before going home, but I was for sure they'd be done.

After a light dinner I wanted to be outside so I decided to plant some onions...with some help from N. She wanted to get them in her garden so we worked together.

Todd got everyone in bed as I wrapped up.

I thought it'd be a great way to end my day to see my babies sleeping. Well, some of them were sleeping.

One was faking Some knew they were supposed to be doing one of the above
And one couldn't be bothered.The last think I did was finish a baby blanket I had been working on.

It was a great day!

My birthday present

2010-04-17T22:20:00.012-04:00

I asked for something BIG for my big birthday.

It was so big it couldn't come on my birthday.

It was so big it had to be delivered.

I actually isn't one thing it is many many many things.

Any guesses?

FOUR cubic yards of hardwood mulch.

It was delivered Friday late afternoon. It didn't even get to rest for a day. By Saturday at 3:30 PM it had been put away.!!!

It's amazing how quick 7 people can get things done. Especially with someone inside preparing food.

The only drawback....well I think it is a drawback....but G didn't!! G learned to drive the tractor. Of course my country girl loved it! It made me nervous, but Todd supervised closely. She didn't run over anything important.Bobby helped too. Mostly in the form of encouraging kisses while I was on my hands and knees spreading the mulch between flowers and plantsHere I think he thinks the photographer (J) is going to give him a treat.

We had enough for both front beds, the horseradish/rhubarb patch, around the north vegetable garden (I have/will have herbs pl anted here), the walk out the back garage and most of the border bed along the back of the house and walk out. It looks soooooo much better.
I love my present.

Thank you Todd!

Resurection Sunday

2010-04-05T18:05:00.007-04:00

Our Easter Guest.
We got quite artistic with coloring eggs we did stripes

and dyed some in red onion skinsWe tried some two tones and of course the plain colors are still pretty.

While I was supervising inside Todd thought he'd see how our fish are growing. They were easy to catch, but still need a couple years to eat.T had a nasty cold so she didn't make church but still wanted to put on her Easter finery and have fun.I think I forgot to change the camera settings so it's a lousy picture, bit they are cute aren't they? After all the fun the little ones and I took a rest. When we got up J and Todd had a lovely Easter dinner ready . All that was left of our artistic efforts earlier was this....

And THIS....

First swim of 2010

2010-04-05T17:08:00.003-04:00

Believe it or not it was over 80 on April 2. I considered it an April Fools trick that it was so warm, there fore I am expecting more snow.

For some strange reason Todd actually put on his suit. He waded in a few inches and decided that it was too cold. But G overcame his rational thinking and got him in...

For a few seconds.

I'm back/ Sewing room

2010-03-13T22:45:00.007-05:00

Sorry I haven't been here in a long time. My keyboard is acting funny and to be honest, I'd rather be sewing.

A tiny update: The basement is done...well mostly. I should have pictures soon.

With the basement done I have more room for my craft/desk things in my "Annex" (a cheery corner in the basement) and an opportunity to get some things of my mom's from the barn. So today my project was organizing and rearranging my sewing/laundry room/office. For the time being you can see the top of my sewing table AND the top of my desk.

Organizing my sewing things has been a bit of an emotional experience.

This year I have acquired the sewing collections of three dear ladies: my mom, Todd's Grandmother and a dear friend and mentor from church. So as I went through things I came across many items, tools, and etc. that belonged to each of these special ladies who each contributed a great deal to who I am today. I stopped and pondered often as I organized.

The largest item was the table my dad made for my mom for a specific place in the house I grew up in. I moved it into my sewing room and arranged my machines and toys/tools on and around it. Fun and hard at the same time.

My desk wasn't as emotional as the sewing stuff, but I did run across a number of things (pictures and cards) that made me stop and think and be sad and thankful.

After I took pictures I also got the leftover carpet from the basement. Now my toes won't freeze while I serf and sew.

Just for fun here is a recent sewing project:
M picked the brown with pink flannel. I added the pink blouse and pink trim to the jumper...there is also a pink band on the bottom, my photographer missed that.

Things that made me cry this week...

2009-12-17T23:57:00.006-05:00

I finished 2 outfits for Christmas gifts. I tried a new pattern. It didn't turn out exactly like I thought it would, but they are very cute.

I wanted to call and tell mom about them...the issues I had and how they turned out.

I went to bed crying missing her.

Tonight we hosted a piano receital for D and N. They played on the piano some one in my family bought in NY around 1900. I usderstand that my great grandmother was an exceptional pianist. My grandmother I am sure had soem training. My mom knew enough to play the music she enjoyed, but would never perform for an audience. I didn't even learn enough to play more than a melody. As Brittany (the instructor) played I thought of how happy Mom and Grandma and even Great Grandmother would be to know that the piano is still being played. And I cried.

Taylor, Brittany (teacher) Paige, D and N

Christmas preparations are in full swing. School is done for the calendar year. The sewing of gifts certainly is not done, but fairly close. I am not giving anyone a box of fabric or an unfinished project...Mom would be proud of me and envious that there were very few years she could say that.

Tomorrow we wrap and bake and roll candies.

Tributes

2009-12-11T18:00:00.002-05:00

My brother, Greg and I each came up with a tribute to share at my mom's Memorial Service.

I introduced my reading with the thoughts that the biggest thing I valued and learned from my mom was the freedom we were given to follow whatever paths we desired. She supported us regardless of what direction those paths took big city or coutry, lots of children or not, religion or not. She loved us and encouraged us regardless of our choices. She didn't always agree or understand, but she did not judge and she did love.

I chose a song from an album I listened to over and over again as a child. I still can recite some of it from memory. I have sicne downloaded it and the tunes and skits are comforting. Free to Be You and Me from the album of the same name by Marlo Thomas and friends:

There's a land that I see where the children are free
And I say it ain't far to this land from where we are
Take my hand, come with me, where the children are free
Come with me, take my hand, and we'll live

In a land where the river runs free
In a land through the green country
In a land to a shining sea
And you and me are free to be you and me

I see a land bright and clear, and the time's comin' near
When we'll live in this land, you and me, hand in hand
Take my hand, come along, lend your voice to my song
Come along, take my hand, sing a song

For a land where the river runs free
For a land through the green country
For a land to a shining sea
For a land where the horses run free
And you and me are free to be you and me

Every boy in this land grows to be his own man
In this land, every girl grows to be her own woman
Take my hand, come with me where the children are free
Come with me, take my hand, and we'll run

To a land where the river runs free
To a land through the green country
To a land to a shining sea
To a land where the horses run free
To a land where the children are free
And you and me are free to be
And you and me are free to be
And you and me are free to be you and me

My brother was more original, but didn't read his tribute, my dad did (and got through it amazingly well).

What My Mom Taught Me

On December 2, 1971 My Mom went to the hospital to bring me into the world. I guess I wasn’t ready, because I didn’t make it easy on her. But I eventually emerged. On this day My Mom taught me how to breathe.

When I was 1 My Mom left me alone in the kitchen with my older sister. She painted my face purple. We My Mom came back, she took a picture before she cleaned my face and I’m sure she had a chuckle. On this day My Mom taught me how to laugh.

When I was 3 My Mom dropped me off at Habitat for my first day of pre-school. I’m sure I cried – didn’t we all. On this day My Mom taught me how to learn. When I was 4 My Mom and I played Monopoly. She let me be the banker. I’m pretty sure I didn’t cheat, she wouldn’t have let me. On this day My Mom taught me how to do math. When I was 5 we moved across town to a new neighborhood. Our new neighborhood was very diverse both racially and socio-economically. In this move My Mom taught me the value of diversity.

When I was 6 My Mom asked me if I wanted to skip kindergarten or not. I said no. I wasn’t ready. She may have disagreed, but thought it was my option. On this day My Mom taught me how to make decisions.

When I was 8 My Mom dropped me off at my first soccer practice. I’m not sure she knew what she was getting into. 8 years, 500 practices, 200 games later she may have regretted it, but on this day My Mom taught me how to compete.

When I was 10 My Mom was diagnosed with leukemia. I didn’t know what it was, but I was scared. I sent her a baboon so she would get well soon. I guess it worked because she beat it. On this day My Mom taught me how to fight.

When I was 11 My Mom drove me around in the car on the first day of my new paper route. From then on I road my bike – well, unless it was raining. On this day My Mom taught me how to work.

When I was 14 My Mom bought me my first guitar and sent me to guitar lessons. On this day My Mom taught me how to Rock…I since seem to have forgotten.

When I was 16 I wrecked my car. I wasn’t badly hurt, but the car that I had saved for for 3 years was totaled. My Mom was there to comfort me even though I had made some bad decisions. On that day My Mom taught me how to be understanding.

When I was 17 My Mom drove me to 15 different colleges in 10 different states from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Six months later, encouraged by her to take the leap, I dropped my acceptance letter to a California college into the mail. She new I’d be far away, but she knew it would be good for me. On this trip My Mom taught me how to dream.

When I was 18 I left Indianapolis for college and was on my own. I talked to My Mom by phone regularly over my college years. She was always there to support me in whatever I was doing. In these years My Mom taught me how to be an adult.

When I was 37 My Mom came out to California to see me get married. She said to me, “Your friends say such nice things about you. I must have done something right for the first 18 years”. She did. On this day My Mom knew she had taught me everything I needed to know.

Two months later my mom was in the hospital in critical condition and I came out to be with her. Shortly after, she passed away peacefully knowing she had raised her son to be the type of person she admired. On this day My Mom taught me how to say good bye.

We also sang 4 songs...darned if I can't remember them all. Mom would have enjoyed that the most. We sang Can't Keep From Singing by Pete Seger, Lean on Me, ______, and Simple Gifts, in a round even.

Mom's 70th Birthday Party

2009-12-09T22:16:00.000-05:00

Mom had dropped a big hint that something should be done to recognize her birthday this year. I told Greg and we figured out a plan. The weekend before her birthday we reserved a picnic shelter at Eagle Creek Park. I looked through her address book and made a list of invitees. I sent the invitations. Greg was in charge of food so I knew we'd eat well.

My family was in Indy for a few days before on the premise of seeing the display of King Tut's Treasures at the Children's Museum. We were to leave Saturday night. We told Mom that we were taking her out for dinner. Todd and the older girls left before us to..I don't remember what. When I stopped to get gas on the way Natalie asked Mom, "Have you ever been involved in a surprise party?" So Mom knew something was up. When we got to the shelter Mom put her hand to her face. I said, or rather choked, "Happy Birthday Mom." I think she recognized Greg from a distance before she got her seat belt off. She got out of the van very fast!Mom's cousin Sally came form Ohio. As did a very old friend from high school Sunny. (below)Greg leading a round of Happy Birthday Mary helping blow out candles.Dad sharing a slide show of old pictures he had just put on CD The kids.

The guest list included my Aunt and her husband, friends from Fellowship, Friends from IUPUI, my dad, my family, Greg and his fiance, a neighborhood friend with her granddaughter, and one of my best friends from high school and her son.

Mom talked and talked about the party. She was thrilled beyond words.

Mom

2009-12-09T12:04:00.004-05:00

1939 – 2009

My life flows on in endless song
Above earth's lamentation
When friends rejoice both far and near
How can I keep from singing?

- Pete Seeger

Cindy Ellis, loving mother, grandmother, friend, neighbor and teacher peacefully passed away Monday. She lives on in the memories of her family, friends, colleagues, students and all others she touched in her wonderful 70 years of life.

Cindy was born in Salem in 1939 and grew up in Dayton. She graduated with a BSW from Ohio State in 1961 and a MS in teaching from Texas A&M in 1968. Throughout her life Cindy was a mother and a teacher - at home, at school, wherever she went. Her formal career spanned 39 years as an Associate Faculty member at IUPUI where she taught everything from basic math to calculus.

In addition to her devotion to her family and teaching, Cindy pursued a broad range of other interests. From her participation in the Civil Rights movement to organizing her kids’ sports teams and leagues to helping grow Circle Unitarian Fellowship, Cindy gave her all to everything she got involved in. She found rest and relaxation in rolling a strike, growing a garden, bidding for slam and falling asleep with a good mystery book on her nose.

Thank you for your love and support of our mother over the years.
- Becky and Greg

Memorial contributions may be made to:
The Lucinda Ellis Memorial Fund, I.U. Foundation,
950 N. Meridian, Suite 250, Indpls., IN 46204
or The American Lung Association

Sorry

2009-11-28T21:20:00.002-05:00

I didn't realize that it has been since August that I have posted.

We have had a crazy fall. Before my mom left MI she told me that she had been diagnosed with lung cancer. Not a huge surprise since she has smoked for her entire adult life, but none the less it was very sad.

After the fair Todd went overseas for work. A 5 day trip ended up being a 8 day trip. With my mom's news and being an only parent, I didn't fair well.

The afternoon after he returned home we left for a trip to Indy. The public reason for the trip was to see the Treasures of King Tut's Tomb. The real reason was to help my brother host a surprise 70th birthday party for our mom. I have pictures to post. It was amazing how many different friends old and new were able to come.

In September my brother got married in California wine country. I took my oldest 2 children. It was a really neat trip. We did some sight seeing with my mom before the wedding. The wedding was beautiful.

After the wedding trip that she thoroughly enjoyed, My mom started intensely dealing with the medical community, which she loathed; and she worked on the remaining things on her bucket list. She got to work on her house, mostly just painting. And went on a canoe trip with my dad (they had been divorced for 15 years). The following Sunday she got sick with flu like symptoms. Tuesday I talked to her and she called "to complain about not feeling well." She did that often, just wanting someone to talk to.

Friday my cell rang while I was at our homeschool coop. My stomach sank when I recognized the phone number of my mom's neighbor. Another friend came Friday to pick my mom up for Radiation and Mom did not answer the door. She went to the neighbor got a key and they found her unresponsive. At the hospital she had a temp of 105, among other problems.

I made arrangement and arrived at the hospital Saturday at noon. She was transferred to ICU within hours of my arrival. My days of ICU nursing came back quickly. She remained unresponsive, except for a brief time when I was talking with her first ICU nurse who was from near my home in MI. Mom loved those small world meetings. She followed the conversation as we walked around the room. Then she gave me look that I took as" I am sorry, so this is the way it is going to be." She asked, "What day is this?" She seemed to understand the day and what had happened, but that was the last verbal response I got from her.

My brother got to the hospital Sunday. Things just weren't getting any better and actually Mom's body systems were slowly failing. The doctors didn't seem to be able to give us any definite answers...the antibiotics and antivirals seemed to to their job, but it wasn't clear what "bugs" were growing and why she had neurological symptoms. The spinal tap was abnormal, but not definitive. We finally had a sit down with the doctor and discussed his dismal prognosis for Mom.

That afternoon we had all the medications discontinued and Mom was transferred the the palliative care/hospice unit. I spent the night with her.

Shortly before Todd and the children and my sister-in-law arrived my mom peacefully breathed her last while listening to one of her friends tell a story. Mom was not alone and neither was I. The children got to say good-bye to her while she still looked kind of like herself.

The next week was a whirlwind of appointments and decisions. My brother and I seemed to be able to get the work done fairly well together. We met with the lawyer, the funeral home, various financial intuitions and tried to find the best place to have a memorial service. And less than 24 hours before the service we found some one to be the main speaker, Todd's Aunt's Sister-in-law who works as a Chaplin.

Mom would have loved the service. Friends from all parts of her life were there: Hoosier Canoe Club, Circle Unitarian Fellowship, IUPUI, the neighborhood association, and family. Friends and in-laws of mine and my brother's also came to show their respect and support. We sang some folk songs that my mom loved accompanied on the guitar by old friends. My brother even strummed for one. We shared out thoughts: I read the words to the song "Free to be You and Me" by Marlo Thomas (from an album many children of the 70s have memorized), Todd read memories that each of the children had shared, and my dad read a beautiful tribute my brother wrote about what Mom taught him through highlights of his growing up. Then we opened the floor for others to share. It was very meaningful for us to hear about all of her different worlds from those who were in them with her.

The next step was to get the house as ready to sell as soon as possible before my brother and I went home to our respective states. It happened amazingly fast. So now less than 3 weeks later the house is on the market with a fresh coat of paint and cleaner than it has been in 32 years.

Transitioning back to my real world has been challenging. About a week ago I got past just being numb. Then we moved the things I took form my mom's house to MI then it started to really hurt...a new reality. The piano that has been in my mom's family for 100+ years is in my living room. Her grandfather's clock is on my mantle, although I haven't wound it yet, I am not sure i am ready to hear it chime.

Then it was Thanksgiving. Mom had most of the Thanksgivings of our married life with us. It was hard.

I am sure there will be many things that are hard without her.

Not only am I dealing with my grief, but also that of my children. My mom was the grandparent who was the closest to my children. She tried to be there for performances and fairs and to just do life with us when she could. So the children each has a different way to grieve and I have to figure out how to love and support each one in their own way. Poor T, 3 yo, just doesn't seem to understand and continues to ask "why gramma sick?" "why her stuff here?" "What Gramma doing when she die" While it is adorable it almost breaks my heart every time I am asked.

Looking back the whole thing couldn't have gone any better for what it was. I knew what she wanted in terms of health care and I was there and able to make that happen. We knew what she wanted done with her ashes. We knew what she wanted done with the cats and the house and the stuff. Mostly she wanted us to not fight and for it to be peaceful deciding about the THINGS...they are just things.

Even so, one is never really ready to loose a parent.

The End of the Fair

2009-09-14T13:01:00.002-04:00

These are way late, but I had just a few more Saginaw County Fair Pictures:

The End

(Leaving the fair Saturday night)

Garden

2009-09-13T22:37:00.008-04:00

Pictures I took around the yard on the first of September:

I love the Macro on my new camera.

This is one of Bobby's cooling/nap holes. He has a few, some are bigger and deeper than this. When we get around to getting his kennel we won't twist our ankles in the back yard any more.

Bobby's home. The Dog house is used, but was a gift. He does sleep in it when the cats aren't tormenting him.

The pond is even lower than this right now.

I was hoping to have a bunch of these gourds for birdhouse projects for the fair next year. This is the only one big enough.

So far we have had 2 edible watermelons. We should have one more. They aren't very bit, but they were yummy.

I planted sunflowers all over. They are beautiful right now. We are hoping to get enough seeds for a few snacks.

Here are the tallest on the south side of the house.

I got 3 pumpkins. They aren't huge, but they are almost perfectly round--just the way I like pumpkins short and plump.

A few of my delphiniums bloomed. They are beautiful, of course my favorite color. I will need to find a way to stake them next year.

2009-09-13T22:06:00.005-04:00

Unedited, ie. photo shop, pictures from Labor Day weekend, so I know they are crooked and need cropped etc. Just enjoy them as the are.

We went up to Mesick to stay with friends. It is always relaxing there. Josie Stayed behind with the Blaylocks and too care of the animals.
The beginning of the hike after a beautiful breakfast.

Saturday after sleeping and an elegant breakfast served to me in the cabin the girls went on a walk. I wish I had the same walk to walk in my back yard! It was a bit hilly, but the stream at the end was a reward.Bobby went with us. He was very good all weekend. I think he got worn out by all of the new smells: pigs, cows, sheep, goats in milk, ducks and geese.When we got to creek we enjoyed a snack of fresh fruit.T alternated between walking and riding...on H.Todd enjoying a great meal after a full day of fishing and cutting wood. The rustic setting would not deter even the snobbiest Foodie. We eat amazingly well when we visit. We bring a little processed stuff, but the rest is home grown, home made (including cheese) or local.This is a series of sunset pictures I took Sunday evening. I played with my camera's settings and enjoyed the colors to the background of Dave on the Guitar, Chris on the Flute mingled with the voices of children playing.

We left for home around 9:30 PM. The children were asleep before we got to the main road, so was Bobby!

To Apease the Blog Police

2009-09-13T22:02:00.002-04:00

AKA my dad.

Hannah Blogged the highlights of our Labor Day Trip. I have more pictures, but some of the ones she posted are mine.
http://upnorthhannah.blogspot.com/2009/09/week-end-and-what-went-on.html

A Few Fair highlights part one

2009-08-11T22:51:00.007-04:00

I know, I know, it has been forever since I have posted anything. We have been busy. I have spent a lot of my computer time watering our sand garden. We actually have eaten a couple tomatoes and cucumbers from it.

THE EVENT of the summer....

The Saginaw County Fair! This was our second year participating, our first with animals. Total we had over 50 entries for our family. 2 goats, 2 chickens, lots of sewing, jam, cookies, drawing, photography, general crafts, beans, peppers, and flowers.

We spent many hours each day at the fairgrounds. It was fun for all including my mom, but tiring.

N was a little nervous before the showmanship class with her 5 month old Americauna. (I have no idea why this is underlined I didn't mean to do it that way)

She did fine!!! I told her that I was impressed that she talked to the judge (she has an aversion to talking to strangers). She said, "But moooommmm, I had to he is the judge"This is the other bird she took. She earned second and third place ribbons and a trophy.

Daniel loved the volunteer fireman's booth where he put out pretend fires and got a new fire hat every day.

Meeting other 4-H'ers and their animals. We spent time with our 4-H friends and met all kinds of new friends who also spent the week at the fairgrounds.

T with a baby chick at the petting zoo.

Gabbi giving Heidi one last spit shine. Waiting to see G in the show ring.

Talking to the judge during showmanship.Giving Hugs some kisses.

We interrupt this goat show for the rabbit and poultry costume parade. Dorothy, I mean N, is wearing my mom's red slippers that she wore to a high school dance.The costume classes are so funny...people come up with some very creative ideas. We watched the horse costume class later in the week which included Susan from Narnia on an Unicorn, Pipi Longstocking, a sheep, Cruella De Ville and one of the Dalmatians. Goat costume class...a princess and her pet fire breathing goat. I finished Hugs's costume at midnight the night before. It is a dog costume with some adaptions for a big belly and longer legs and neck.

I didn't photo graph all of the still exhibits...I don't think I ever found all of our families' entries, but here are some:Josie's Swing dress made from a Sense and Sensibility Pattern.

Mom talking to one of the volunteers. I think she helped keep them form getting bored.

These are the adult open clothing sewing entries. 6 of them are mine. The Blue and red jacket, the denim skirt, blue and white blouse, blue and pink robe, blue and white dress, and darker pink night gown. I also entered an apron made from the same fabric as the robe. The children and I were happy to get our clothes back. Especially N's night gown, my robe and M's sweater, an early birthday present.

My peppers were in the running for the smallest in the fair and my beans the biggest (not a good thing). I did an herb arrangement that I really liked but didn't get any pictures taken before it wilted.

You can see D's eye for detail in his pictures of his beloved trains. He also entered a blanket, a Lego car, and 2 drawings. He did very well for his first year.

Josie's embroidery project, her second ever, earned a best of show ribbon. I was impressed. They all did a great job!!

Now that we have gotten some sleep we have big plans for next year including some speeches, dog agility, and more sewing projects. They also think we should enter some of the things we received from Todd's Grandmother's estate in the antiques department. In talking with other 4-H moms, we all would like to get more done before the end of July!

Dustbath

2009-05-30T21:57:00.003-04:00

The first time I saw one of the birds do this I got worried. She was hunkered down in a funny position. All I could think of was "don't let another one die". But one of the other birds stepped on her head and she got up and was fine.

So I caught one of them doing it last week on video:

I guess my fascination just shows that I am a neophyte farm-girl.

Swim follow up video

2009-05-30T21:41:00.004-04:00

Garden May 23

2009-05-28T21:14:00.003-04:00

Last Friday I told the children that after my front flower bed was filled with dirt (sand) they could go swimming.

They all worked fairly hard to earn their treat.

I am pretty sure I shovelled the most, but it got do and they got to swim.The garden is growing, but slowly. We had a hard frost last week. I managed to cover most things around midnight. Nothing completely died.My pole beans are being eaten by an unidentified bug. A neighbor said she had bean beetles of some sort eat all of her beans last year. Today I bought some "organic" bug killer. I will get it out there tomorrow and pray for the best.This is a pumpkin that didn't get covered for the frost. All the upper leaves were killed, but it has grown 3 inches and put out a bunch of new leaves since then.These are gourd plants that were covered, but still got too cold. They are alive and growing now.I planted 25 asparagus crowns earlier this spring. A few are showing themselves.Blooming asparagus.A friend/neighbor has way too much rhubarb. She offered some to me. She wasn't sure if I had actually taken some until I assured her that I had.The small bunch to the left was a plant that I salvaged from the old house that lived in the woods near the barn until this spring.

Swim

2009-05-28T20:58:00.002-04:00

This was the first long swim of the season. I love going to the "pool": we dont' forget anything, if we do it is just in the house. The lifeguard's chair is in the shade. We don't have to clean up if we don't want to.

I asked G to get the new lawnmowers out to entertain me while I watched the people kids swim. They weren't much company, they wanted to eat the grass just past the length of the leash.

Heidi

Hugs

Old pattern New robe

2009-05-17T23:17:00.000-04:00

I had a long week. I told Todd I felt like I needed a shopping trip (retail therapy) or an evening in my sewing room. He said no shopping.
I got out this pattern I had in my pile of sew sometime soon. I knew already what fabric I wanted to use. It is sort of a whimsy print I bought when our Hancock Fabrics went out of business a few years ago.I left out the front waist darts (I have no waist in the front) and ended up making the back darts a half inch smaller. I also decided to face the front skirt instead of following the instructions and just turning under a 1" hem. It gave me a bit more fullness in the front. If I were to do it again I would give myself even more fullness in the front or loose the baby belly. I also added belt loops for the ties. I am thinking about sewing the tie to the right front side and the left side seam so when I tie it it stays crossed better. At breakfast this morning my little girls told me a looked like a princess.

Excuse the face here. My son was making faces at me just as J snapped the picture. The retake was blurry.

New Additions

2009-05-17T22:30:00.008-04:00

The chicks have grown and grown. We lost 4, so we have 6. Many of them have names but not all. I am starting to see the pecking order. Blondie or Meg and one of the ones with a striped head seems to be the bosses.

They have started to fly. They get as far as the top of their home. We have added more "lids" for the tub. Next weekend Todd will make them a chicken tractor home.

Saturday we brought our goats home. G was beside herself with excitement.

We did not bring home the boy we thought we would for multiple reasons, but we did bring home the one I thought was the cutest at the Carmen's. He is a Nigerian dwarf named Hugs. He was a bit uneasy about his new home...or maybe is was the 8 humans surrounding him, especially the small, loud excited ones. He seems to have settled into his new digs. He got his name because when he was very little he liked to be held. He still loves to just sit on your lap. His job is to be a companion to Heidi. Goats can get lonely, depressed and unhealthy if they are alone.Heidi on the other hand is normal wild crazy goat kid jumping on the walls, climbing on backs, and chewing on anything and everything. Heidi will be bread this fall and we will have babies in late winter and milk in the spring.

We have Chicks!

2009-04-28T12:17:00.005-04:00

The little fluffy kind, not the little girl kind:

We have 10 Aracaunas. I am surprised how different they all are, we might even be able to tell them apart. They will eventually lay a variety of colored eggs--sometime in September I think.

N has started naming them. It is hard to come up with 10 names at one time.

barn and misc

2009-04-28T11:45:00.000-04:00

This is the west end of the barn you can see the outhouse and the old "bathroom" remains. During the summer you can not see through the tree line here. The upstairs or loft o f the barn is still used for storage and sometimes the children play here. It is a MESS! but not a priority to clean up.

While I was taking pictures of the girls new dresses D had to get in on the photo shoot with May.

I use my Pampered Chef 4 cup batter bowl at least 3 times a week...well, I did. It got dropped and shattered into a million pieces. I have been told that if you send in the piece that has the company name on it they will replace it. the biggest piece I found was about 1" square and had no recognizable markings. Bummer.

Garden and Nest

2009-04-23T11:49:00.003-04:00

A few days ago I noticed shiny strings in the crook of a tree.The next day I saw a bird land in the crook about 20 feet up in a tree. A robin had gathered the tinsel from our neighbor's Christmas tree that was lying in his burn pile. So we have a robin with fancy tastes to watch this summer.

We have a few small patches of grass that came back from last fall.

The second batch of lettuce I planted in the cold frames.

Spinach seedlings with Maple tree blooms. I think I am going to be constantly pulling baby maple trees out of my garden--like at our other house.

Sugar snap peas trying to come up.

Kale seedlings. We have never eaten Kale, but it is pretty and is really good for us so we will give it a try.

Girls Regency Dresses

2009-04-23T10:28:00.002-04:00

I have been wanting to use Jennie Chancey's Girls Regency dress pattern for quite some time. She put out a "Drawstring" appendix to the pattern not too long ago. It is perfect for M and T who like to dress themselves without help. The Drawstring is actually 1/4" elastic--I used a bunch of my stash--so they can just pull the dresses on over their heads.This fabric was on the clearance rack at my favorite quilt shop. I have decided that the quality quilting fabric is much better for my children's play things because it wears so well. The less expensive cheap fabric form Wally World or even Jo Ann's just doesn't hold up to playing in the woods.

I loved the fabric so I bought a lot. since I was sewing and had lots of fabric I offered N a new dress. She of course jumped at the chance to get a new dress and match her sisters.

The Wal-Mart out by the mall was clearancing all their fabric (I have heard of many others around the country doing this) so I went to check it out. I found some of their nicer fabrics for 50% off. I bought lots of fabric for clothes for the next year and J bought fabric to make herself 4 or 5 new things also.

I told D he could learn how to use my sewing machine when I taught N last week. He bugged and bugged me until I actually did it. I believe it is a new machine for him to learn how to use. He is fascinated by all the Fancy stitches.

Last night he made a "tarp" for his Thomas trains.

First Swim

2009-04-20T11:39:00.001-04:00

I didn't think it would be so early, but Saturday was warm and sunny and the kids thought it was TOOO HOOOTT. So I said they could get wet. They didn't stay in very long, but cooled off.

G's new friend Taylor was there to enjoy freezing. J was inside working on a new dress that she got done for church.

Easter

2009-04-16T10:54:00.000-04:00

Just your normal egg hunt--6 children, 12 eggs each, too much candy, and we found all of them.

No one really got new Easter clothes, but the week before I had made some much needed dresses for M and T. They decided they would make good Easter dresses.

MISC.

2009-04-14T21:10:00.004-04:00

This is a view of the overflow pipe in the pond. It is about 2.5 feet under water. Here is the outlet of the overflow pipe. This winter it froze. Todd took the elbow piece off so the level wouldn't get too high if it froze up again. He replaced it in March and had to cut a foot off so the pond level would not get too high. Our beach is kind of mushy because of the water level. We will probably add some of our excess sand to it some time.

Shots of the house:

Retaining walls on the main level are almost done. And my clothes line is up, now if it would just warm up so I could use it!

G and her first critter. We plan on expanding with goats in a few weeks.

N's tea party in the pines

Spring Flora and Fauna

2009-04-14T20:55:00.005-04:00

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

Turkey--We have been seeing turkey pretty regularly. In the last couple weeks the Toms have really been strutting their stuff. Monday there was one back by the barn who must have been getting desperate because every time I looked back there he had his tail feathers all spread out.

Deer--we always have deer tracks around the pond. Sometimes we see them. Not this week though.

?--too big for cat, wrong shape for coon. A friend suggested lynx.

The following are bulbs I planted last fall. I also planted daffodils, but they aren't doing so well. They may be too deep, in really poor soil or not get enough sun.

The rest are planted randomly all over what maybe someday a lawn. They will be done blooming before any grass will need cut. Our last house had these spring bulbs in our grass leftover from the previous owner. I love spring showing itself early with these flowers--even in the snow.

Pie and Bread Bowls

2009-04-14T20:50:00.000-04:00

These are from a while back. The pie is J's she has gotten quite good at pies in general.

This shot shows the tile in the kitchen well.

One day during school some one read about creamy cheese soup. I couldn't get the thought out of my mind. I had wanted to bake bread that day so I got carried away with the whole thing and put together a dinner fit for a restaurant.

It was more than worth all of the work. YUMMY!

Garden

2009-04-14T20:00:00.006-04:00

I have big plans for our sand box...I mean yard.
Here I have built (with some help from my strong husband and daughter) a natural wall for a border for a flower bed on some sort. I plan to add some compost from the township when I can. In the mean time I will dream of what will grow here. It is about half full sun and half mostly shade.

These trees just happened to be bent how I needed them. All of the wood is left over from where we cut down trees for the pond. I requested the most unusual ones for garden decor.

My cold frames spent last summer on KP duty--they actually held up a table top that served as the kitchen sink counter. Now they are back to their original purpose. I brought 6 wheel barrow loads of dirt from near the barn to add some soil. Now I have planted 2 batches of lettuce.Here the first batch is at seedling stage.

These were the logs that made me think to save some for my garden. They have been waiting all winter to become the guardian on my crops. Todd planted them about 42" into the ground. he says they aren't going anywhere until they rot. I may build some sort of arbor across them and plant some vines there.

The left side has had some horse manure added, been tilled and been divided into wide rows for planting. The southern side will get one or two green manure crops before we cultivate it for more garden. I hope to build a rustic fence around the while thing and plant herbs on the outside to deter the deer (I hope)

The garden here looks terraced. It is not, it is just the perspective. Saturday I was able to plant the asparagus crowns I ordered along with onion bulbs (actually N planted all of these), carrots, beans, peas, and kale.My three bin compost pile. It is also made from scrap tree parts and some fencing. The plan is to pile leaves and straw in the middle section and use it to cover the food scraps on the west end first then when that is full start adding to the eastern one.

2009-04-13T19:16:00.004-04:00

I sent D out to take pictures of my newly defined garden. This is what I got back.

It's begining to look a lot like springtime

2009-04-01T17:32:00.002-04:00

Well sort of. Some days it feel like spring, some days it doesn't.

I have figured out where my garden will be. I even moved some logs around it to define it. Now I need some nutrients for it. I am hoping Todd will bring me some manure soon. I have big dreams for my garden, we will see. I should be able to plant peas and some other early crops soon.

I did plant some lettuce in my cold frames. Nothing has sprouted yet. I think I am going to need to water far more than I am used to. Sand just doesn't hold moisture like clay does.

I also have started 4 flats of seeds, mostly flowers and herbs. I have one more flat that I can fill up in another week or so.

I will try to get some pictures up soon.

Pond Scum

2009-03-19T20:39:00.007-04:00

I have been worried about the fertility of the soil here as it is getting closer to time to plant a garden. Todd has been worried about the algae and leaves in the pond. A friend (Rachael R. from the Delta co-op) suggested to put the algae on the pond. I thought that would be way too much work.

But this week we had a 60+ degree day. The children have been asking when they can go swimming or at least get into the pond. So I made a connection...I told them they could go into the pond up to their knees if they harvested the algae for my garden.

My children would never decline the opportunity to get the water so they agreed. I sent J for Todd's minnow saning net. She returned with her "mucking" boots, his net and his fishing waders. It was quite the site.

J and G used the net. N help land the catch and we all dumped it into a plastic tub. I transferred it into the nearest thing I could find to pull it over to the garden site: a sled. Then I dumped it onto the sand that is supposed to make vegetables this summer.
They had a blast and got plenty dirty. It wouldn't qualify as the first swim, but they got a little wet. Even J outfitted to stay dry slid on an underwater slope and ended up with water in the waders via the armpit. OOOOhh cold!

My living room Shelves!!!

2009-02-17T22:49:00.006-05:00

Well....it will be someday! Daddy...help me please. (It is so much cuter coming from a 2 year old) This wood came from trees we had to cut down to have the pond dug. It is mostly white oak and some maple. We had a local man rough cut, kiln dry and plane it for us.

For perspective I wear a 10.5 wide shoe. This is one of the wider baords. They vary because they were cut form the outside of the tree in.

This piece was on top. It looks like the alien from the movie Alien. I love to see the diferent grain marks and make us stories how they were made.

The place that looks like a cut mark is actually smooth so the color variation is in the wood.

Princess Photos

2009-02-17T22:33:00.006-05:00

Once upon a time....that's how princess stories start right?...in a Walmart far far away M and I spotted a fairy costume that was too cute to pass up. But the price wasn't. A few weeks later the same pattern was a 99 cent deal at Jo Ann's so we snatched it up. Then she chose the closest green fabric she saw--fortunately we were standing right next the the clearance bolts that we also marked down. So my little fairly who has been on a Tinkerbell kick got the makings for a Tink costume. I told her when it warmed up I would make it--hoping to get some "real" clothes done first. But the "Real" clothes didn't take long and even with cutting and sewing together 16 petal pieces neither did the Tink costume.

She even flits around like a fairy.

Cinderella was searching through the 99 cent patterns also and had difficulty finding her size, but finally did. Then she found the fabric once again on the half off the clearance. It took a bit to find the poof and sleeve fabric, but using the coupons it was easier. So This is what Cinderella spent some of her Christmas gift money on. I asked her if she had money left to pay someone to sew it up. She gave me a scowl. Then thought about and started asking questions, but quickly decided that she would be patient until mommy got to it and not think about spending the amount of money it would take to pay someone to sew.

I had some trouble with lighting--I need a better place to take these kind of pictures, suggestions?--I tried to fix some of the lighting problems with Paint shop, but I need more practice.

I added 18 inches to each of the 3 skirt pieces...it is almost impossible for a princess to have too full of a skirt.

A Day in the Country

2009-02-17T22:15:00.009-05:00

The dark spot is the big deer that interrupted story time this morning. It was very thick from side to side. Larger than others we have seen. I didn't see antlers on it. Here is another shot with the brightness reversed--it was about 30 yards away from the house with another larger deer, maybe a buck?, with it. But we never saw that one well.

N loves craft books. This week we studied the Cherokee Indians. Here N and M are planning.

Chief Babbling Brooke

Strong Brave of the Peanut Gallery

Retro Jumper

2009-02-17T21:38:00.006-05:00

I finally am getting around to posting pictures of the Jumper I made before I made the S & S Romantic blouse to go with it. It is a Simplicity retro pattern. Before I cut anything I lengthened the bodice an inch, straightened the front darts and shortened the back darts. It fit amazingly well. I am getting pretty good at this fitting thing if I don't say so myself. ahem ahem. The only thing I needed to adjust was some how I got the bodice lining smaller than the bodice so I turned the lining into facing during breakfast the morning I wore it the first time. I also need to trim the front of the arm hole as it was too small to move freely and work in. I had enough fabric left over to make a dress for T. She is tall and keeps growing out of things. I put a 5 inch hem in her dress so it will last for a long time. She told J that she looked like Christine (from Phantom of the Opera).

Sorry the pictures aren't the best. My photographers in training aren't well read in digital camera settings.

Cats

2009-02-17T21:24:00.004-05:00

We had the 2 girl cats. Recently we were adopted by this white and orange Tom. He has been named Creamsickle. He was the inspiration to get the ladies spayed today. He must have had some people before because he made friends with G. Todd wonders how long he will stay around now that the girls aren't going to be so interested in him. I hope he stays as he brings variety to the group and G loves all critters.

2009-02-16T20:47:00.003-05:00

The Impotance of Proofreading watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OonDPGwAyfQ (I have no idea how to get the video on my blog, but I am sure it is possible).

I know I need to proofread these better. But unfortunately you do understand what I am saying and unless I get more complaints I will not treat this space like a term paper. OK maybe not until my students start sending me grades on them.

My office and sewing projects

2009-02-02T22:06:00.005-05:00

J wondered if I was really going to share pictures of my messy office. I reminded her that it isn't too messy for her to try to take over and that some of the mess is hers. It really just id a busy place as this is where two of my favorite machines live--my sewing machine and my laptop.There really is only room for one person to work at a time. I can sit in the old rolling desk chair my mom and I got at an auction and reach my desk that was my grandfather's work desk, my sewing machine cabinet that use to be my grandmother's and my table which my grandparents at breakfast at every morning for years and years. All of which I refinished at some time (after college or in my first year of marriage) they all have the same stain and finish except my desk hutch because my dad made it and somehow the stain color got miscommunicated.This is the only room (other than the great room and kitchen) in the house with more than one window. I squeezed in as many windows as possible for lot of light. Unfortunately I sew after dark most of the time--when else do I get quiet uninterrupted time?--and I need at least one more work light. It could be organized better, but I have wanted a room with these pieces of furniture for a long time and I got it before all my children left home--earlier than I though I would. So it works. When we get another sewer in the family we may need to spread out or give them their own work space and machine(s).Remember clutter is a sign of a great mind. Or maybe just a busy mind.This is the last of the bedroom curtains. I didn't get a good picture of the curtains because of the sunlight. I trimmed our bedroom and bathroom curtains with ribbon. I have more ribbon and plan to use it as accents throughout the room like on my bath "toys" basket.This is what our island was made for.
This is my second attempt at a Romantic blouse from Sense and Sensibility Patterns. I was not happy with the first one, but love how this one turned out. I have a jumper that goes with it,but don't have pictures yet.

This is T's favorite place, or on top of the island. She is there anytime J or I are working in the kitchen.

Unfortunately while I sew I put my friend whom I have a love hate relationship with in charge of entertaining the children. D and M get sucked in immediately and stay. G and N went to play with the cats and J and T were "helping" me.

Actually this was a sick day when 5 children were recovering from strep all the same week.

A Day

2009-01-20T20:57:00.005-05:00

Todd had Monday off of work. He kindly gave me the day off of my regular job and learned more about how school works on a daily basis. He slept in, but that was still early for the rest of us. School was finished before 4 PM though so his first suggestion was to get up earlier. We tried today. We will try harder tomorrow.

After school was done he encouraged everyone to get out side. G loves to skate on the pond, but that means someone has to keep the snow off of some of it. Todd becomes the human Zamboni. This is his first attempt at a home made snow removal device. He made a "blade" out of scrap metal from the corn crib that had fallen down on the property years ago and 2 x 4s. He attached that to a furniture dolly. It works better then shoveling, but it still is a lot of work to do the 600+ foot drive. I will try to get pictures of his second invention later.J had taken a walk in the woods earlier. She saw lots of deer prints. T doesn't handle to cold well so she and J worked on something on J's laptop--music organization I think.

After some fresh air Todd and G worked on math facts.

And J and T made cookies. Here she is offering me the chocolate chips that were left over.T got the most important job--licking the beaters.
I spent the day sewing curtains. I was happy to get them done, but did get bored of sewing straight lines.

D has a John Deere room so he chose curtains to match.

This is an close of the fabric.

G and N chose a silky sheer print that looks like water to go in their tropical room. I made sheers instead of lining theirs. All the others are lined with white muslin.

My favorite are the ones I made for the little girls. M's response was worth the extra effort: she stared for a moment then said, "They are cooooollll and beautiful!"I found the main fabric and was amazed how well it matched their room--green and orange with numbers to go with the letters on the border. Then I saw the coordinating stripey print and bought some to do "something fun with". I used the ancient ruffler attachment for my ancient machine (that lost a part in the move) to make a ruffle, but that wasn't enough so I added the valence. I originally planned to use the ribbon to tie the curtains to the rod, but changed my mind when I added the valence. The ribbon makes a nice contrast.I ran out of orange thread with one and a half seams yet to top stitch on the ribbon. I called some nearby friends, they didn't have any orange thread. I was I was getting worried. I had to go into town for something else (and lunch out on my day off I thought I might as well live it up and grab a quarter pounder). I was not surprised that nowhere in our little town could I find orange thread, but I did think in the quiet of my van that I could use clear or mono filament thread. So I was able to finish. No one will every know...well you know, but I doubt you will go looking for the difference.

The master suite curtains are up but need hemming. Maybe I will get pictures up when that is done.

Moon shadows

2009-01-12T20:23:00.004-05:00

Because we are away from city lights we often get shadows from a full moon. This summer it was fun to walk outside without a flashlight and not run into trees or trip over bikes. Now that we have snow on the ground the effect of the bright moon is even greater. I don't go walking around in it...too cold especially this week, but love to admire it from the many windows of our house. In fact I don't even need a night light to walk safely around the house because so much light comes in.

I really wanted to be able to share what it looks like, so last night when I woke wide awake at 2 AM I got out my camera and tried a bunch of different settings. The pictures were taken from our dinig room and kitchen. Here is what I ended up with. I did some editing with Paint Shop, but the first is untouched:

Christmas at the Farm

2009-01-02T22:19:00.011-05:00

All of our married years we have gone "home" for Christmas to visit family. Like most years we started with Todd's family. The drive was slow going because of freezing rain, but we were not late for dinner--it is difficult to be late for dinner at the Norris Farmhouse even if you are really late there will be tons of leftovers. The big farmhouse fills up fast just before Christmas...Todd's sister was already there as well as his aunt, uncle and cousin from Baltimore. His other uncle still lives in the original house with his family so they were in and out the entire time we were there. Chad was able to arrive late on Christmas Night so we could all be together for a couple of days.

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring except for....

Aunt Carole who never stops stirring. She keeps us all busy and entertained. She especially likes to take time for the little ones. Here she is reading a bedtime story. The big lump on the floor next to M and T is Tim, Todd's 23 yo cousin.

On Christmas morning Father Christmas (Todd's cousin Jonathon in costume made by Aunt Carole) passed out presents with some little helpers. We tried to down play material gifts this year and gave more "gifts of self".The Gifts of Self varied--Suzanne's was cooking--she is amazing, Carole played a piano piece, Tim played his guitar and sang for us, Uncle David babysat T who had a fever the night of the Cousin's party, , J, G, &N with the help of Aunt Lora's soundtrack collection sang for us. Uncles John's gift of self was a tractor ride/farm tour. D had to get in on the tractor driving.
D loves hanging out with Tim. Poor thing is surrounded by girls so much of the time. He was asking of Tim would be at the farm weeks before we left.

Christmas day was the most beautiful, chilliest day we had at the Farm

This is a view of the farm house from the middle of the corn field across the street which belongs to Wissing-Norris Clearview Farms. Todd's Grandmother's family originally owned the farm and as you can see by the clear view it was aptly named.
A more up close view of the house from the road. Todd's grandmother spent all of her Christmases here, as did her sister, Todd's father and his siblings, Todd and his siblings and our children.

T loved all the laps that were available to her. She really enjoyed a chap stick routine with Uncle David.There has been a long tradition of performing the "Norris Family Christmas Pageant" every year for a long time. This is how it works: Someone (Carole) designates scenes of the Christmas story to teams of the people who are there. If there are special guests They also participate, one year my brother came and got to be a "wise guy". This year the special guest was an older man who lived in the nearby small town and is the town historian...he maybe more appropriately got cast as a wise man.

So each team is given a Bible verse and has to act it out, including costumes and whatever props can be found nearby. Often we have a theme for example one year it was "they just didn't get it." After each scene we sing a chorus (or more) of an appropriate Christmas Carole. The normally quiet and reserved Norrises can really hoop it up with this. Todd's Aunt Lora (a Norris by marriage) always gets up laughing hysterically.

I am going to let you guess the scenes being acted out, some are more obvious than others.

Todd's Sister, Aunt Lora and G

This year I was not going to be typecast and chose to read for N, M, and T instead

Todd, Uncle David, and Tim Carole, Mr. Newkirk, and John

As you can see Grandmother Norris's collection of canes proves handy as do sheets, towels, garland, hats, place mats and of course stuffed animals. It is so much fun. We all moan and groan as Carole hands out the parts, but it is too fun to go without.

Also while we are at the farm house we usually get together with Todd's Grandfather's brother's family--Todd's dad's cousins and their children. While we only see this extended family once a year it is a treat for us all. My kid's first cousin, Grace and one of their third cousins Emma (whose mom's maiden name is the same as my married name)There are traditions with this gathering also. Generally there are organized games. It is held at a small town youth ministry center so many games are provided--D enjoyed wii race cars and chocolate,

N and Emma (they are within months of being the same age and N remembers playing with E when they were 3 or 4, they have always gotten along splendidly) and G, Holly and Big D guitar hero and J billiards. The biggest tradition is the ham. I don't remember what started the ham. Anyhow there is this plastic ham that gets passed via a game or lottery and the winner gets to keep it for the year, improve it somehow, then bring it the next year to hand it off. One year some one attached a light bulb to it and it can be plugged in and lit. We added one of Todd's dad's Pacer bandannas shortly after his death the year we had it. The passing of the ham from Jonathon to Bobbie

Christmas in Indy

2009-01-02T22:10:00.004-05:00

We got to my mom's for lunch. As the finishing touches were being done my brother grabbed his girlfriends (Kim) hand and held up to my face. A beautiful ring was on her left hand. Congratulations!

After lunch we opened gifts with my mom and Greg and Kim.

Josie was thrilled with her book about the show Wicked and that excited everyone else.

Greg and Kim did their shopping in Mexico, where they got engaged. Todd got a hammock. I got really yummy chocolate.

Daniel received his first Lego set from my mom. Todd got him started and in no time he had it all put together.

The next day we went to my dad's house and celebrated with Dad and Nancy, Greg and Kim were also there.

The next day N and Mom went shopping as part of N's gift. G, J and I went to Broadripple to explore. Not many of my clan can just go window shopping and there is little in Broadripple that we could afford or isn't a restaurant. But it was fun to look.

We decided to leave that evening. The weather was so nice we gave Mom another gift--help with yard work. Some were more helpful than other, but it was great for us all to spend time outside without getting wet or freezing.
We left right after dinner. The first half of the trip went great--sleeping children and great weather. Shortly after we got in to MI it started to rain and freeze. Around Lansing it stared to snow. It was very slow going. We finally got home after midnight and spent the next day reorganizing and relaxing.

2008-12-20T20:51:00.005-05:00

Twas the night before Christmas (at our house) and mom was up until I am not telling how late finishing the gifts and wrapping and checking the list....too late for that. We always open gifts at home since ewe travel for the actually holiday. This was the first time we did it first thing in the morning. It was kind of fun. I set a pretty table the night before hoping for one of Todd's great breakfasts. Chef Todd did not disappoint and the children were amazingly patient for me to get out of bed.

Candy before breakfast, please mommy it is Christmas?M and T received little rocking chairs. They used them before they were unwrapped--how do you wrap rocking chairs and a doll bed?

This was the stay up too late to finish gift. A thrifted oxford embroidered with horses.

Earrings for the girl with new holes in her ears. She can take the starter studs out this week.

Machines for the future ME.

A quiet moment on mommy's lap--the pink in the children's isn't the camera it's the dreaded pink eye.

Natalie and her new doll that she has been begging for for months. She promises to be a better mommy to this one than the last which got an unattractive haircut. They are inseparable.For the first time this year everyone got socks and underwear in their stockings. I was amazed at the excitement of some of the children about this. Todd was not spared. He also got a boatload of mini-snickers and some Reese's. I received a much needed new heating pad for my back and some very yummy chocolates that I don't have to share and won't admit to haw many I have left.

After things settled down to a normal Saturday I got a chance to take a walk out in the 10 plus inches of snow we got yesterday. We were fortunate that we didn't have to go out in it and thankful for our neighbor who plows our long driveway

I am really glad we don't live in the barn in the cold.

My outdoor girl--yes her eyes are pink too--walked with me part of the way. The snow was deepest on the west side of the pond, up to my knees, it was not an easy walk around the pond, but my it is pretty. I still love the snow. Our outside cats are fortunately fur balls. They spend a lot of time on the front porch in a box with a deer hide in it. But they eat in the barn and hopefully catch all the mice that might come out from under the snow.

Blogland to paper

2008-12-11T18:58:00.003-05:00

I found a place that turned my blog into a PDF file http://http://serv.sharedbook.com/blogworld/printmyblog/index.html. So my non-Internet friends can see what we've been up to...Unfortunately they also tend to be non-computer friends. Now I need a new color ink cartridge. Todd says if it's in the Christmas budget I can get a new one if not the next semester's school pages will be in black and white.

Off to work on more Christmas organization....

Decorating for Christmas

2008-12-05T21:57:00.005-05:00

Even though the atmosphere at Delphi isn't all cheery; we will try to make it a bit cheerier at home. Of course the little ones don't get corporate problems so their enthusiasm was almost too much for Todd and I. We tried to have fun. Maybe we need a little mistletoe.Daniel and Todd "Built the tree" and the children and I decoratedJosie, officially measuring 5 foot and 8 and 3/4 inches, was tall enough to get the angel to stay on top of the treewhile Todd mad a not so traditional snack
Bagels with cream cheese and Jelly and hot chocolate

Snow

2008-12-02T21:55:00.008-05:00

After Mom and Chad left and we returned home from church it started snowing--wet heavy snow. It didn't stop until Monday afternoon. The pond

View of driveway from the front porch

View of back drive from back garage door

Monday was the day I planned to start back to the reality of homeschooling and housekeeping. I didn't figure the snow would effect us much, just more reason to stay home. But the lack of electricity did slow us down a bit. The windows kept us in plenty of light until about dinner time. It was a nice quiet evening in front of the fire and a good excuse to get lots of school read-alouds done. Some of the children chose to sleep in front of the fire.

The lack of electricity really didn't phase me much. Life was still better then in the barn: it was warm (it never dropped below 63) and light until the sun went down then we had candles and the stove, all 5 burners, still worked. We weren't prepared for the well not working though. Fortunately I had a couple of jugs of distilled water hiding and then Todd brought home a bunch more. The electricity come back on around 4 am and we spent today trying again to get back to a reality schedule.

As I am writing this the power went out again. We are more prepared (bottled water in the basement) this time, but hopefully this will be short lived as Consumer's Energy fine tunes the repairs already made. Guess it's time to snuggle under the covers and go to sleep.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-02T21:40:00.003-05:00

Our Thanksgiving was extra sweet this year, so much to be thankful for. My mom and Todd's brother and neice were here to help us enjoy.
Josie in the kitchen--we could all do a share without running into each other

The dinner table
T really enjoyed her pie--she looks good in it also.

We only got a 17 pound bird this year, but we didn't have many extra guests to left overs home with. So far we have been enjoying turkey sandwhiches and a couple different kinds of Turkey soup. The pie went fast even though I forgot the sugar in the pumpkin pie.

progress

2008-11-19T21:06:00.003-05:00

no pictures--I should take one of the empty boxes--sorry.

The children and I cleaned out almost everything from the living area of the barn and put it in the wash, away or in the trash can (my favorite).

Todd brought over the next set of boxes last night. I figure if I unpack and organize one van load a week the barn will only have things that stay in the barn by new years OK maybe Valentine's Day. Todd also got the school closet and linen closet shelves up for me. So the school things I have found (I expect a surprise sometime) are organized and "away" I even got some baskets of special "school" things organized for M and T--after years of planning to do this I finally did it.

Tonight I went through boxes of pictures and some nick knacks. one box had obviously been a home to a mouse family and had been dripped on so I had to unwrap everything. Of the 5 boxes I unpacked I repacked only one and was able to pitch some things. I still have one box to unpack and sort. It is mostly old family things and I wan tall the children to see what is there and maybe learn some family history. That is a school subject, right?

Tomorrow we have our first purely social guests since we have been in the house. Saturday we have more. I know they will be understanding, but it is motivation to get more put away and clean.

B

We're in

2008-11-12T19:56:00.005-05:00

And sort of settled. These are the happy pictures. The sad pictures which I won't take are of what is left in the barn. It looks like we took off in a hurry and left a bunch of stuff.Believe it or not this is a great improvement. Have you ever seen what moved in looks like to an 8 and 10 year old? It is scary.

It's not pretty (yet) but it functions--no more laundry mat! I will have shelves over the washer and dryer. There is a sink behind the door and a laundry chute that empties on to the washer.

Happy Birthday Todd! His present...a living room without boxes.

The final comfort added today--I got the DVD player, VCR and TV hooked up. We can get 4 TV stations, not PBS ;o(, with our bunny ears well at least until February.

Moving day

2008-11-12T19:35:00.005-05:00

Moving day arrived and everyone was so excited that we all got up bright and early...some brighter than others.

T's last trip into the house for breakfast.

Todd made breakfast,

Todd's specialty, blueberry pancakes

then the helpers arrived. I was told I could spend the day telling guys where to go...oooohhh it was going to be fun. Well it got overwhelming fast because of how fast they brought the boxes. Thank you to Rod, Tim, Larry, Sarah, and the Chrysler Family

By lunch half the barn's contents made it through my doors. By bedtime enough stuff was in the house that we could go to bed in warm cozy comfort on clean sheets.

Basement in the afternoon

Dad was in charge of getting closets ready so we didn't tax his back too much as last time he was here.

Thanks for everything Dad.

We moved in!

2008-11-09T12:12:00.000-05:00

I am too busy trying to find things abd put things away to post pictures, but I will soon.

country life

2008-11-04T22:09:00.005-05:00

We all have a lot on our minds with getting so close to moving in, so a few weeks ago G told me that she heard a bulldozer knocking trees down on our property I blew it off as just noise. Then this past weekend J told me that our neighbor on our property where a path had been cut through the trees. This time I was more attentive and told her to tell her father as I was in the middle of something. He went to check it out.

So pray that this be resolved and we can get on with things. We have enough on our plate.

Good news is that today a bunch of things were accomplished: Carpet is in--it makes it look so much more homey. More of the electrical is done, but they still have a lot to do and left in the middle of the day. The mantle is up. More trim work is done. Tom (finish carpenter) says thing will move fast. He doesn't want to work around us next week, but is pretty sure he will have to. I finally got the grout haze mostly gone, sealed the grout and started to caulk the joints. I can't wait to get closet things in--tomorrow I will start that.

My dad is coming tomorrow so even more will happen. At least he will provide a distraction from the normal.

I will try to get pictures up soon after we "move in". I can't wait to wake up to a room that is warmer than 45 degrees...and take a shower without feeling like I have gone to the shower house...and cook in a real oven with more than two burners...and have hot and cold running water in my kitchen...and not worry about how warm the little children are...and to sit in my blue chair! I am a spoiled American!

Soon very soon.

inside fall colors

2008-10-30T12:41:00.002-04:00

Master Bath. I love my new tub!
I can't wait to use my new kitchen.

Touching up. You can't see the front of my dress--it is caked with tile mastic, grout and many colors of paint. It is getting heavy.

Trim that is drying and waiting to be installed.

M & T's room

Kid's bath

G & N's room

D's room
First inside bath!

counting down

2008-10-26T23:21:00.002-04:00

We are planning to move into our new home on November 8th.

We know it won't be "done", but it will be done enough.

I was looking back a few weeks and I was bemoaning waking up to 55 degrees. Well last week it was 41 in the barn when we awoke more than once (while Todd was in Brazil needing air conditioning) and with the weather forcast for the next few days it will be that cold again. We try to be safe with the kerosene so we turn them off while we are sleeping, so waking it always cold. The night the children slept the best was the night they found the winter hats, mittens and gloves in the barn loft and slept with them on. Tonight T went to bed with a ski mask type hat on. Maybe she will sleep all night again so I can wake up without having a painfully stiff back.

Ryan will start the hardwood floors tomorrow so we don't know how much work in the house we will be able to do. Painting except some minor touch-ups is done. Todd started on doors and trim upstairs this weekend and made great progress, but it is not done yet. I still have to work on getting excess grout off the tile in my bathroom. There is still wood that needs polyurethane. Knobs can go on cabinets. And the list goes on and on.

I finally got to enjoy MY bathtub. It wasn't HOT, but warm enough. I took the last of the hot water for Satuday night baths.

finally...pictures

2008-10-17T19:08:00.005-04:00

OK now I have had a second harassing this time for actual pictures so these are from earlier this week:

This is what the basement looks like now--kitchen:

school room: and dining room:

They aren't pretty but much warmer.

Now for more pretty things. This my favorite view of the house--across the pond.

Real Grass. We have a little.

This is the reddest tree that still has any leaves
The Mast Bath. Todd and I spent way too many hours working on this. I was up past midnight at least 4 nights this week. Now it is done. When the picture was taken I still had a few tile to put in and grout.
The kitchen with all the cabinet set. Does that satisfy for a bit?

Almost an update

2008-10-14T23:15:00.002-04:00

I have been harassed by the blog police (my dad) to get this updated but have been too busy with tile to do much else.

We have about 3 weeks to go. This week we have been told we will have indoor plumbing. To get that we have some work to do--complete the tile shower and tub surround in the master bath and set the kids bath vanity. SO I have been up past midnight 3 days in a row to get the tile in. I was planning to grout tonight but as I was cleaning up 2 tiles fell off the wall and had to be reset. So I will grout tomorrow. In the process I missed my 20 year high school reunion. I knew wouldn't be able to go, but frustrating tiling made it more disappointing. I am hoping there will be lots of pictures and accounts of the party from my facebook connections.

We are getting tired of living in a barn and a basement, but are excited about how things look. I will try to get pics posted soon.