While I Was Sleeping....

Well, I wasn't actually sleeping ... not the whole time anyway!! But while I wasn't looking, our cooler than usually summer has ended and given way to a quite spectacular fall color display. And I almost missed it!!

Honey and I have been so busy these last few months, struggling to keep our business afloat during these tough times, it seems all we do is work and eat and sleep, and outside our little bubble, the world goes on, the seasons change, and time passes and we hardly notice.

Believe me, that's no way to live!!

Since I last posted, my youngest brother turned 49.

Big Guy and KT celebrated their 1st wedding anniversary.

Honey and I celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary.

The Wonder Child went back to school, is writing a weekly opinion column in the campus newspaper (he's a journalism major) and turned 24.

The Poet had an accident and wrecked his car. No injuries thankfully!!

I finally got our taxes done. We had applied for an extension until October 15. (If you remember, my computer crashed in March and I lost a 9 months worth of financial data for the business). So I finally got those done .. and guess what? When you don't make any money, you don't have to pay any taxes!!! We're getting a refund for maybe the 3rd or 4th time ever!!

I was looking for an appropriate picture to post (because I know it's more fun to look at posts wtih pictures in them), but I can't find my picture files at the moment. I probably lost a lot of those in the crash too!! So I'll just have to take some new pictures!!

Soon ... I'm making a vow to look up more often .... lest my life pass me right by!!

Running in Circles

I need to get my driver's license renewed. Because of budget cuts, two of the three Secretary of State offices in our town have been closed leaving only one open, that usually involves a very long wait. Last week Big Guy told me that he had his license renewed in a little town about 20 minutes away that has a SOS office and there is never any wait and he offered to take me there.

It was a beautiful day, so the drive was enjoyable, and when I walked in, indeed, there was NO ONE else there. I handed over my paperwork, had a quick eye exam, and then the clerk asked me what my Social Security number was. Apparently, the Federal Government is now linking driver's licenses with SS numbers and tax returns ... some Homeland Security thing, I think.

It turns out, somewhere along the line, probably when switching computer systems or something. Social Security dropped my married name and had all my information under my maiden name. The names had to match exactly, so they couldn't renew my driver's license until I had the Social Security thing corrected.

So, okay, it was a nice day, we'll go back to our town, downtown to the Social Security Office and see what's up. We lucked out and there was no wait there either ... except, that even though I've been married for almost 36 years, and even though I have Social Security card in my possession with my married name on it, they need to see my marriage license as proof that I am, indeed, married.

We gave up and went home!!

Then next day, I went back to the Social Security office with my marriage license, my birth certificate, my driver's license, my Social Security card, and I think I took along my baptism certificate just in case!!

And I got a new Social Security card.

I still don't have my driver's license renewed. All state offices are only open four days a week lately ... also because of budget cuts.

That's going to be a trip for another day!!

The Fruits of Summer

Honey and I went to the Downtown Farmer's Market this past weekend. They've had this market for years, but it was only a couple of mornings a few days a week, not a good time for us to get away. This year, they've expanded their hours so we were able to go for the first time.

We will most definitely be going again. We bought fresh green beans and wax beans, the juiciest peaches I've found this year, corn on the cob, tomatoes, a huge bunch of basil and some Tuscan bread.

I'm in heaven this time of year with natures bounty!!! These days, you can get most anything year round, but there is nothing better than locally grown. Nothing compares to eating an ear of corn that was just picked this morning, or fresh picked green beans, steamed with butter, salt and pepper.

We've been enjoying pancakes with fresh blueberries and locally produced maple syrup. Pizza with homemade crust, fresh peppers, onions, mushrooms and just picked basil leaves.

I can't wait to see what new things they have this weekend!! It was so much fun ... and we spent less than $10.00. Pretty cheap for so much fun, don't you think??

I haven't been doing any sewing at all, and probably won't until the end of the month when the Wonder Child goes back to school and moves out of my sewing room!! But there are so many other things to do in the summer, I'm just not going to worry about it!!

A Wedding and other stuff

I haven't died and gone to heaven (or that other place either). I've been so busy lately, I've been living life on automatic pilot. Work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep. That's been my life for the last couple of months. Living like that doesn't make me very happy, and as our mothers always told us ... if you can't say anything nice ..... you get the idea.

I haven't been in the sewing room in a couple of months, except to do some mending. My pile of unfinished projects is still sitting there -- unfinished, waiting patiently for me to have time to pay attention to sewing again. There are so many distractions this time of year!! First there was the yard clean up from the winter debris, trimming the shrubs, pruning the trees. I even mowed the lawn this spring ... for the first time ever!! I grew up with three brothers, and raised three sons, so I've never needed to mow the lawn before. But with the kids all gone, the yard work is too much for Honey to do by himself. Now, understand, we have a riding lawn mower, so it's not like I pushed a mower over our half acre lawn ... but still. It was an accomplishment!!

The biggest news lately is that my oldest son, the Poet, got married on Saturday. He and his new wife live in Florida, but the wedding was here in their hometown. It was absolutely lovely!! Everything went off without a hitch, down to the smallest detail. If I ever need a big event planned, I'm going to call my new daughter -in-law, because she did a wonderful job ... especially considering it was all done long distance!!!

I didn't get any good pictures at the wedding, the lighting in the chapel wasn't ideal from our seats, so this is the best picture I have, but I'll post more when we get the professionally done photos.


We haven't had a chance to get to know Katie very well, but we love her already because she makes Ben so happy!! He's like a different person!!

Today is my birthday. I'm 39 years old for the 18th time!!. Honey is cooking steaks on the grill, and making strawberry shortcake, so I'm going to go have a glass of wine with him and celebrate!!

I won't wait 2 1/2 months to post again!!


Terri
Terri

Easter Revisited and Other Stuff

The roast leg of lamb for Easter dinner was a huge success!! It turned out perfectly, if I do say so myself. I will definitely do it again. I used the leftovers to make lamb stew, which reminded me of my grandmother. She made the best vegetable soup, but it became a family joke that if she made soup with beef it in, it was vegetable beef soup, and if she made soup with lamb in it, it was lamb stew ... but it was the same soup!! Mine was a real lamb stew and we thoroughly enjoyed it for dinner the next day.

The piece de resistance was this cake. It's a lemon Jello poke cake and it's really easy to make, looks terrific, and is a light refreshing dessert after a big meal.


In other news, I have a new great niece, (number 20 for us - we both come from large families), born on Monday. Her name is Cleo Savannah. I don't have any pictures of her yet, but her mom is absolutely gorgeous, and I'm sure she is too! I did finish the rag quilt I was making for her, so I'll have to get that in the mail soon.

I have something very exciting going on in my life that I can't talk about just yet. Don't want to jinx myself, but if it works out, it's an answer to my prayers!!

And speaking of prayers, I'll be taking off Friday morning for a Christian women's retreat in Sault St. Marie in the upper peninsula. My sister has been going for years. She talked me into going with her one year, and I've been back every year since. This will be my 5th one, I think. Sis is now on the board for the group so she's also roped me in to being a group leader. I feel woefully inadequate to lead a group, but somehow, it always works out!! My husband calls it my weekend "galavanting with God". It's about a 4 1/2 hour drive, and across the Mackinaw Bridge. Every year, the last couple days before I just really don't feel like I want to go ... but I'm always glad I did. I've met some amazing women there, and I come home all recharged and full of faith and hope for the future. It does my soul good ... so I'm going!! I hope to get some good pictures to share next week!!

Terri

Spring Visitors

Our backyard used to flood every time we had a lot of rain. Sometimes if it happened in the fall, we'd get a cold snap and it would freeze and the kids would have an impromptu skating rink. We put some drain tiles in to help deal with the water, but still, in the spring when the snow melts, and it rains a lot before the ground is thawed, the back of our yard gets flooded. It doesn't usually stick around long these days. This year, for the first time, it provided a resting place for a couple of days for a mated pair of migrating ducks. .

The dogs and cats were in a frenzy, but these were savvy ducks, and they soon realized that the animals were not in love with the idea of getting wet, so as long as they stayed in the middle of the pond, they were safe!

They're gone now ... but we sure had a good time watching them for a couple of days!!

Terri

Singing the Blues

In case you were wondering, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. I've just been in kind of a blue funk the last couple of weeks, and not in much of a mood to do anything creative. The early spring is full of bittersweet memories for me. We lost my dad on April 1, 2003, rather unexpectedly, and that was the start of a few very difficult years for me, when it seemed like life just ran me over like a steamroller and I was lost for quite a while. It was a long road back.

Many thanks to all of you who offered your messages of sympathy and prayers for my uncle. He passed away peacefully in his sleep on March 26, less than 12 hours after being admitted to the Hospice Center. My aunt was discharged from the hospital the same day, and although her activities were very limited, she was able to direct the funeral preparations. The days since then have been a blur of funeral arrangements, family arriving and departing, making sure Aunt is managing okay after her surgery, and trying to keep up with work.

Now Easter is upon us, which is a reminder of hope and salvation, and time to be renewed and refreshed. That is my plan.

I'm hosting Easter dinner this year at our house and cooking my first leg of lamb ever!! Honey doesn't much care for lamb, so he's having steak, but my Aunt loves it, I love it, and the Big Guy and KT said they would try it. So lamb it is, complete with mint jelly, mashed potatoes and English peas!! Wish me luck. It seems like it would be hard to ruin a roast leg of lamb. I guess we'll see, won't we!!

Terri