Is She Sick?

Sitting on my couch with my feet up, dog by my side and one at my feet, I finished a white hat for the preemies.  I now have a small amount left but not enough to even make a flower as a trim.  I laughed as I showed Bob that I finished another skein of yarn.  That is three in the past week.  Some skeins I have in the basket are half used so I do use quite a bit of yarn in a week. 

The one I finished today is my favorite.  I love going in for yarn.  I must touch and feel and make sure it is soft for the babies.  Only then is it allowed to go in my cart.  Like everyone else, I have a stash.  Not as much as I use to, but I do have a stash.  So in I go to get another skein of my favorite yarn and guess what?  There isn't another skein of it in there.  There has to be.  I looked twice.  Now my heart is beating super fast and my breathing is very shallow.  I went back and sat down.  Bob wanted to know if I was sick.  Do you need me to call the doctor?  No, I am just having yarn withdrawl, I am out of my favorite yarn.  Then he laughed, yes, laughed.  When he saw I was serious, he wanted to know if I needed to go to the yarn store now.  No, I guess I can survive till the morning.  Tomorrow I will be waiting by the door so I can be first in line to get my yarn....... 

Frogs Are Leaving Home

We have been checking on the tadpoles at least five times a day.  I know I do and so does Bob.  Mckee does too.  She can't wait for them to leave so we can open the pool.  Mckee is getting very anxious.  She tried numerous times today to get me to move the tadpoles elsewhere.  I just hate to ruin the life cycle of these frogs.  I have been nuturing them for weeks.  I keep telling her when the bigs ones are gone we will put the smaller ones in a pool and open the big pool.

Bob went out to lock up the chickens in the dark.  He went over to the pool with a flashlight.  There were four frogs the size of your fingernail, attached to the pool lid, climbing out.  They are so tiny!  I can't believe my babies are leaving home!  I will have "Empty Nest Syndrome!"   Got to go watch them. 

Where Am I?

After leaving the Doctor's office, I jump into my car.  It turns itself on and drives me out of the parking lot.  I am not touching the wheel.  It takes me to the highway and suddenly gets off.  When it turned at the light, I knew where it was taking me.  The Fabric Store.  The car smoothly slid into an open space and shut off.  I knew enough to get out of the car.  I grabbed a cart like I usually do.  I go and touch and check out every bolt of fleece for the babies.  Next is the yarn aisle.  Yes this is the softest.  I add it to the cart with a few other colors for the babies.  The yarn joins the fleece that is in the cart.  Add some buttons for the hats.  This is so much fun.  All of a sudden the alarm goes off.  Guess it was just all a dream!  Oh well, time to get up, maybe I will take a trip to the Fabric Store!...

Tadpoles

Well, the tadpoles are finally growing legs.  They are so tiny that you can hardly see them with the naked eye.  I go out with binoculars to see them.  Eyes aren't real good.  I really don't think these things will ever leave home.  I keep waiting and they keep staying.  Bob said all of a sudden you will see they are all gone and you will be shocked.  Yes, I will be shocked.  Then the small ones are going in a bucket and going for a ride to a pond to finish growing.  This won't happen next year! But Bob said they go back to where they grew up to lay eggs.  If that's the case, there will be a toddler pool outside next year for them, not me!.....

Mom Gets Braces

Years ago I had to get braces on my teeth.  Yes, even at an adult stage people called me metal mouth and a few other words.  Like always I ignored them. 

When they were first put on, the teeth really hurt to the point I couldn't chew food.  Mashed potatoes were the best.  I didn't have to chew, just swallow.  The one night I made the kids hot dogs.  They smelled so good.  You guessed it, I pureed the hot dogs.  The kids stared at my plate in disbelief.  What is it?  When I said hot dog they all laughed.  When I scooped it up they laughed even harder.  For about a week I was like this.  Then came summer and sweet corn.  Who doesn't like fresh sweet corn on the cob.  I know I can't eat it off the cob, so I cut it off the cob and ate it.  I did have a problem with some foods but figured out most.  So just remember at any age braces are a challenge but there is a way around them!.....

Strawberry Jam?

We started the day going for bloodwork.  After that we sprung on Mckenzie that we were going to pick strawberries.  I had bowls and bags.  I never did this so I was unsure what we would need.  We got a ride to the field in a trailer being pulled by a big tractor.  Mckenzie was loving this. 

It was going to be a hot day so I knew we wouldn't be there long.  We picked the strawberries, first putting them in the bowls then pouring them in plastic bags.  Mistake # 1.  Then we continued to pick more.  Ok, now it is getting hot.  I am done.  Mckenzie continued picking until our ride arrived to return to the parking lot.  We paid for our berries and off we went.  The berries in the bowls were beautiful.  We ate quite a few on the way home.

We decided  to make jam.  This I have never done.  It can't be that hard.  First cut the tops off the berries.  Can I please have a bag of berries?  When I poured them from the bag I was shocked to see what they looked like.  It was a bag of wilted berries that someone squished.  It was gross but I need them for jam. 

I followed the directions on the box of pectin.   It was cooked to boiling, then put in jars and sealed.  Mckenzie checked on it every 5 minutes.  It is still like syrup and shows no signs of thickening.  Plan 2.  Recook.  Clean jars.  Put in jars and reseal.  We left them overnight with hopes that it would thicken.  We checked them the second our feet hit the floor.  UGH!  Still looks like syrup.  Plan 3.  Recook and add more pectin.  Now I have 3 packs and 1 box of pectin added to the sugar and berries.  After resealing the jars, we waited.  After about 4 hours we saw some signs that it was thickening.  I think I finally did it.  We are proud of our jam.  Will I do this again?  Maybe, but only if I have 4 boxes of pectin!

Tadpole Update

Every day it is a necessity to go and see if the tadpoles are frogs yet.  They are now taking on the shape of a small frog.  They also have cream colored bellies, so I know they are getting there.  Just not fast enough.  Then the other day I saw just what I didn't want to see - smaller tadpoles.  Yes, those frogs did it again.  Now I am thinking that they need to lose their happy home.  Tomorrow I will be shopping for a small plastic kiddie pool.  While no one is looking I will drain the pool top into the kiddie pool.  It is suppose to go up to 90 degrees the next few days and my pool isn't opened yet.  But it will be!!!!!

Garden Tomatoes

Summer brings with it the urge to grow a garden.  We usually plan this in March and fill out the list and send for the seeds.  Some years we have started the seeds inside.  Bob has a small greenhouse that he grows the seedlings in.  This year we didn't.  We bought a few plants from the local growers, especially tomatoes.  Young Bob who lives in Delaware and puts his garden in super early, loves tomatoes too.  So every year it is a challenge to see who gets the first ripe tomato. 

I decided to play a little trick on Bobby.  Like I said his garden goes in early.  I was going to have the first ripe tomato.  I went out and bought 3 tomatoes on a vine.  I tied the tomatoes to the biggest tomato plant, took a picture with my phone and sent it off to Bobby!  "I have the first tomato!" was the caption.

Now Bob was in on this and Stacy knew too.  No one squealed to him as to what I did.  I was so proud of myself.

A few minutes after I sent it he called.  All he could say is, "You're not funny!"  "When did you start these, January?"  I told him that I planted them and used vinegar to make them grow faster.  He told me he looked on the computer to see if anyone else uses vinegar on their tomato plants! 

I left him off the hook today.  I finally admitted to him what I did.  He couldn't believe I did that to him.  Yes, I got him good.  I enjoyed it too.  Love ya Bobby.  Happy Father's Day to all!!!!!!!

She Has Your Number

Grandpa always liked to entertain the kids with stories that he has made up.  These stories entertained our kids for years.  Along comes Mckenzie.  He will sit there telling her a story and she just shakes her head and nods at him.  She doesn't want to hurt his feelings by telling him she knows it was a long tale.  I love sitting here watching as she weighs the situation and then laughs at him.  It really is worth it, and he just keeps trying.  He does have all the kids believing that one of his mounted animals' eyes glow red in the dark.  He tells them it watches them when they enter the basement.  Needless to say, not one of the grandkids will go down the basement alone.  They feel they are being watched!..... 

Tadpoles

A few days ago I went out to check on the swiftly growing tadpoles.  There seemed to be more of them.  My only problem was that there are now small ones and bigger ones!  Bob came running when I called his name.  He thought something happened.  I told him to look at the sizes of the tadpoles.  Don't try to tell me they didn't grow as fast as the others.  They are new ones!  He finally admitted yes they were the second hatch.  Okay that is enough!

Sitting here I suddenly hear the sounds of the frogs calling.  The same ones that have already laid their eggs twice.  Please don't let them lay more eggs.  I really do want to open the pool - this year!

Texting

When we first got cell phones I said I would never text.  And I didn't for years.  My first text message was one big line, no spaces.  I didn't know how to put a space in.  Is there a button for that?  Yes, Stacy had to show me.  Hate electronics and everyone knows that.  Then I found out that texting has it's own language.  Eventually I am learning.  Stacy helps me with that too.  Eventually Bob got a cell phone.  We got the same carrier so we can call and text without being charged.  Now Bob also said he would never text.  Stacy cured him of that too.  She ruined us both.  Now we must teach Bob the correct symbols for texting. 

A few days ago we met up with Bobby and he asked Dad why he puts "lol" after his info.  We think it means "laugh out loud."  So Bobby gets messages like, "Mom is okay. Lol." or  "The car broke down on the highway.  See you soon,  Lol."  Bobby just doesn't understand, Dad has his own language that he made up and we caught on to it a while ago.  When Dad puts "Lol," it means "lots of love!"  He does this with other symbols too.  Sorry but he makes his own and eventually we figure them  out and inform everyone else what he thinks it is.  It does turn comical when you don't know his language.