Goals

Isn't this place ADORABLE?!!!  One of my dear friends from our local widow group bought a house and fixed it up for an AirBNB and it is SO cute!  She has a mug tree with a coffee bar, a game room, a fireplace, etc.  So cozy!

Um and a hobbit door!!!

Our widow group had a dinner there on Friday and got to tour the house. AND eat lots of goodies!  If I had one ounce of her creativity, I believe I could do this too!

We talked cruises. :)

 

And isn't this funny?!  I believe there was one point in my life that I thought Austria and Australia were the same place too.  I may have been 8.  But because of the Sound of Music, I eventually knew the difference.  They don't say G'Day Mate in Austria.

And my rhubarb is starting to come up.  Goals...

I attended an ASG meeting on Saturday and got a huge bolt of fabric to use for curtains in my new office/sewing room from the free table. :)

That afternoon, watched Witness with a couple friends at the nursing home.  Ada is a huge fan of Patrick Swayze as well as Harrison Ford so this is the 2nd time in 12 months I've seen Witness with her.  I've seen Dirty Dancing around 4 in the last 12 months.  I found out my other friend is a fan of Night Shift and I own the DVD so since it is fairly risqué, I snuck it to her in a plain brown paper bag at church Sunday.  :)

Also on Sunday, Maddy, Matthew and Leon played catch in the yard that afternoon.  Meri and I watched from the deck.

Leon starts baseball soon and hadn't practiced much at all yet.  He has a good arm!

And I see a lot of home projects just from this pic that I need to attend to.  

Won't be today though, too windy.

I made a crockpot of chili along with a loaf of bread in the bread machine.  Unfortunately, didn't realize the machine blade hadn't made it into the pan before I made it, so I had a hot mess waiting for us when we got home from church.  Oh well, I had other rolls.

How was YOUR weekend?

Off to a GREAT start!

 I was given a sourdough jar kit for Christmas and broke it out this last weekend with a "from scratch" sourdough starter.  After 5 days, I bit the bullet and made a loaf with some of the discard.  I'm SURE I'm doing this wrong...

But the bread is pretty good!  I probably need to pull it out of the oven a few minutes earlier next time.

I just joined a sourdough group on Facebook and will figure this out.

Anyway, it's been a crazy ride since early December!  In case you hadn't realized, we celebrated Christmas and New Years... I started a puzzle, lost some pieces and gave up on it by 1/15/24.  It was one I'd done before and somehow lost pieces the last time I attempted it too.  Where on earth are the rest of the sky pieces?!  Oh well.

I went out to eat with one of my widow friends and the restaurant happened to be at the same hotel that Robb and I spent the weekend before he passed at.  It was emotional for a bit.  And I've changed my hair conditioner since then and it isn't quite as staticky as that anymore. :)  

Afterwards, she and I attended a Candlelight Christmas Concert and it was beautiful!  We finally found the building and got inside TWO minutes before they locked the doors.  SO worth the run through downtown Des Moines in heels and freezing temps.  If you're the homeless couple we almost tripped over in a doorway, we apologize!

It was a rush trying to get everyone for a Christmas photo so we did a collage.  Here is Ryan and part of his crew.  The Christmas letters were finally mailed between Christmas and New Years and some were missed entirely. It was a 3 pager this year!

Leon getting all spiffed up for his school vocal program.  I agonized all afternoon, driving all over Des Moines to end up finding the shirt and pants at the Walmart, 2 blocks from his mom's.  He's wearing one of Robb's Christmas ties!  And he was one of maybe three kids (100 kids on stage) wearing ties.  Oh well, he looked great!

I LOVE this photo of Leon and his baby sister!  She's a LOT bigger now!

Aggie loved the Christmas tree and now the living room seems kind of naked without it, but there is definitely more room for her toys, which has done a good job of filling in the gaps.

I found the "How Much Is That Doggy In The Window" toy that my kids had loved so much. 

She loves it too.

Meri and Aggie at Christmas

More Aggie and the tree pics.

And Aggie and me!

and the tree.  Thank goodness for BeReal, or I'd never have pictures of myself!

Christmas program at church.  It turned out really well.

Leon and I spent a day with Maddy and Matthew between Christmas and New Years, I had the week off.  We did so much that day!  Lego competition, with ourselves, at the library, 

We saw the movie, Migration, after lunch (so fun!), Bobo tea, mini golf, supper back at their house and then home again.  We'll need to do that again but maybe take a couple days next time.

And it finally snowed!!!  Middle of January, but it snowed more than a usual years worth all in 48 hours.  Mr Snow Plow man did us a solid and plowed 2.5 feet of solid, packed snow at the end of the drive.  It took over 2 hours to get it all cleared.  Then a few more times since, including once today from the 3 inches we got yesterday.

It can be spring now.  I'm ready.

Full of What?!

 Life has been full!  Not all because of this little girl but she IS fun.  I can't believe she'll be 4 months in a couple weeks!

I made my sample batch of Hawaiian rolls last weekend in prep for our personal family Thanksgiving this Sunday.  I'm making turkey sliders.  The rolls are SO good! I made another couple batches yesterday and plan to make two more as soon as the bread machine pans come out of the dishwasher.  I have two bread machines so double your carbs in half the time! :)

The recipe is HERE in case you want to try it in your bread machines.  Google for a different recipe if you don't have a machine.

A few months ago, I was taking garbage to our local waste reclamation center and I found two heavy duty bookcases!  I know, right?!  EEWWW, they're from the dump???!!!  Another mans junk... was tucked into my van!

They sat in the garage until this week when I decided to clean up one of them and set it up in the Livingroom.  It looks like it should have been there the whole time!  Jen called dibbys on the other one so that'll go downstairs this weekend.

And yes, we have a security camera in the living room.  Don't do anything stupid in there or it will be recorded for proof later!  If we think to look at the recordings...

Kevin seems to love it.  So I left that side of the shelf just for him.  Games that we don't play a lot are on the lower shelves to free up the actual game cabinet a little better.  It was getting too crowded.

And in line with my church's Bible study theme, I found this mug online!

Who can I give it to? hmmm

Kevin is leaning on the sill with his elbows...  What a crazy cat.  Frank must have been in the garage.

Here is a tip for when to pull the turkey out of the freezer for next week, unless you're doing sliders of course, because then you'd buy sliced meat.

Leon will be here for the weekend and if he's home in time, we'll get an episode of Dr. Who in.  And if I don't get back to my blog before next week, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Off with her head!

 I got a call from Leon's mom Tuesday that Leon said he was ready for a haircut!!!!

I suggested to get him to Great Clips right away before he changed his mind!

again.

She got him there and here is the before.  He hates brushing his hair but insisted on long hair.  I think he was envisioning his hair to be like an anime hero.

And here is my gorgeous grandson with his new doo!

He's going to be so happy with that!

I canned 12 jars of pickles yesterday morning and am SICK of it!! I looked into other options.  Found where you can make cucumber chips by slicing them thin (I've learned... it's supposed to be thicker than this), tossing them with oil (1 tsp), apple cider vinegar (2 tsp) and salt (1 tsp) and putting them in the food dehydrator for 4-8 hours.

Let them cool (or not) and they taste good on their own or dipped.  I used ranch.

REALLY good!  I actually bought more racks so I can make more at a single time.

And THEN for "the dumb thing I did" award.

I went out to mow the yard over my lunch yesterday and as I started out under the deck, I accidentally raised my head too soon and smacked the top of my head onto the edge of the deck. YIKES!

I stopped right away and headed inside.  I've seen enough 9-1-1 episodes to know that this means a concussion or a brain bleed or Typhoid. 

After he quizzed me on all the major birth dates of everyone in the family 

and seeing if I cooked my "9"s,

 

Ryan helped me find the ice pack and after taking the obligatory photo, I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening on the couch.

I rented "The Deep" with Jacqueline Bisset and Nick Nolte for $.75 and held Aggie for over an hour while she napped.

Being a grandma is the best!  When she started fussing, I handed her off to her parents and went to bed.

About to "head" out now and finish mowing.  Wish me luck!

Something about Aggie

 I got a lot of Baby Aggie time in this weekend!  I walked with her for 1.5 miles and she slept the entire way.  Her parents anxious on the porch waiting for my return.  I remember my first hour without my babies...  

After I got back and was exhausted from the added exertion of pushing a stroller, Leon had gotten his scooter delivered and was ready to go on a scoot/walk with me. REALLy??!  He was gracious and gave me a few minutes to rest up before we went out.

I made some more pickles and figured out a slick trick!  In order to get the cutter into the cuke, you had to wiggle a little to break the skin, on both sides.  So I took a peeler and peeled the top and bottom of the cucumber.  Easy peasy!!  It sliced so quick and easy and wasn't stuck together on the bottom when I dropped it into the bowl!  My batches of pickles are getting better!  I'm doing the "slice, boiled brine, sterile jars and lids, into the oven for 15 minutes" trick.  I'm determined to have a crunchy pickle!

On Sunday, I got some more Aggie time!

And so did Meri and Maddy!

Well, there is my photo dump of the day!  More fun and chaos coming up!

Ding Dong Ditch and other events

A few things I've been up to.  In no particular order, because I'm lazy today.  I hope to blog more regularly so maybe chronology will get better. 

and actually, it's not that bad!  Leon discovered that he loved rollerskating so we took him and a friend.

Then we took them again for his birthday and he discovered that he hated it.

I've been putting pics of the new grandbaby up on the fridge and can't wait to see him/her on the day!  Got just over a month left before the due date.

We celebrated Robb's birthday by attending a Red Hot Chili Piper concert!  fun!

Easter egg hunt at my place!

Leon got a hair cut!!!!  He's rocking a shorter doo!

Attended a baby shower for Jen and Ryan.  My sisters showed up for a quick bite before the party,

and then helped celebrate the new baby!

Me and Jen. Remind me not to wear that combo again! 

Many at the party tie-dyed baby clothes!  This will be the best dressed baby in our town.

I got to hang out a lot with these girls!

I made bloody mints for the party.  I was going for tie-dyed mints... oh well.  They still tasted good.

Me and my kids.

A garage sale find!  I am loving it!

So is Leon.

Maddy bought a porch goose and then I did too.  I'm making clothes for my goose for the State Fair!

Here is a VERY rough draft of a hoodie using the sleeves from an old sweatshirt.

Maddy requested a rain jacket for hers so I made this out of an old rain coat she found thrifting.

This is a project that I started this spring.  I actually did a little work on the gate today but need more time to think about the hinges.  It'll happen!

I've been watching a lot of the Golden Girls as an homage to my mom.  Is it bad that I'm starting to get into their clothing styles?  Well, SOME of their styles...  I could so wear this one.

Ignore the slam the door in their face comment.  Was streaming something. Probably Golden Girls.

Happy anniversary to these two!  Six whole years!!!

I told Leon a story about some Dr. Scholl sandals we wore as teenagers so I looked them up to show him that they were not in fact clogs from Holland.  They're selling for $120!!!??!  

And those were a pair I owned!  How did they get so expensive?!

I made peach cobbler for Memorial Day and only after I made it, realized that only a few of us still like it.  I froze it in individual servings and they're waiting for someone to find and thaw them.

Hear that Maddy?!  I saved some for you!

AND we got ding dong ditched.  TWICE in the same evening!  I caught him on the security camera and then later going across our yard.  He gave a lame excuse that he was looking to hang out with Leon but he's a 14 year old, really??!!...  I'm doubting his story and Leon doesn't even know him.  Leon wasn't home btw.

Anyway, that's what's going on here.  I've got a to do list longer than this post and then get overwhelmed at the length of it so I stream Golden Girls or whatever other show the kids talk me into watching.

I'll get things picked off it eventually.

But now off to make tacos for tonight!