Kids Komments

Well once again...Ethan has managed to crack me up.

Bia has been going thru this stage of changing clothes at least 3 times a day. AND those outfits are not always gauranteed to match. The other day she came downstairs just sobbing like her best friend had died. I tried not to laugh as i saw what she was wearing while I asked her what was wrong. She said, "Mommy!! Ethan said "oh bia, you're hot"...and I not hot!" :)
She was wearing a jean skirt with burgundy flower (on backwards), a pink tye dyed shirt, purple socks and lime green shrug and brown sandals!!! Evidently the color scheme agreed with Ethan and he found her quite appealing to look at!!! :) LOL!!!

WHAT a week!!

Well this has been one BUSY week. As I posted earlier...we did corn for chicken corn soup on Monday. Tuesday was laundry and cleaning. Wednesday I headed to Jenny's and we did 58 dozen of corn. I got home going on midnight. Thursday I headed back over to Jenny's and we did 21 quarts of dill pickles and 72 pints of zucchini bread in a jar. (where u bake it in the jar and then seal it). Got home around 11 and had three more hours of baking the stuff ahead of me. I collapsed into bed at 2:00 a.m. and back up at 6:45 to head to my parents for the all day board meeting Troll had to be in for the Camp Freedom board. I helped my mom with the lunch meal and then we cleaned up from feeding those 22 people. Today was mini camp and banquet. I stayed until after lunch and then brought a very grumpy, cranky 5 and 3 year old home so I could do laundry, clean the house and make food for our church get together tomorrow. Looks like Monday I will have tomatoes out the ears!! So here comes salsa and spaghetti sauce. As of now I have green beans, pickled cauliflower/veggies, hot pepper jelly, zucchini bread and dill pickles in pantry and chicken corn soup and corn in freezer. Next comes the sauce and salsa and then later I will have sweet cherry peppers to stuff and can. (those are SO yummy)

It's been a really busy week with 100 dozen of corn done, zucchini and cucumbers til we feel slightly green and laundry and cleaning in between, but, I've enjoyed it and it's so much fun to get together and do canning and freezing. I'm thankful my mom taught me how to do those things. It sure makes a person feel allot better when they open the freezer and pantry and see all the rewards from hard work. Thanks, mom, for teaching me that this stuff is fun to do!!! :)

(and yes, for those of u that check my blog...the picture of the cherries...is a repeat!!!)

Corn

So yesterday I left the house at 7:40 and headed to someone's house to work on corn. Two guys husked, me and the lady brushed the ears and then the "world's greatest corn cutter" cut the corn off. Next we headed in to start cooking chicken broth to add the corn and chicken to. Ended up, 5 hours later, with 22 qt. of the world's greatest chicken corn soup. My freezer groaned when i put it in there but it will be so yummy this winter.

Then next we headed out to Jenny's to help with her corn. She too got allot of hers done into soup and the rest into just corn. Headed back out there tomorrow to can pickles and zucchini bread in jars. Next Monday we'll be going back out to do more corn. It's so much fun to can and process food like this. I'm finding I really enjoy having a garden. I'm thankful for how it has all been turning out in abundance.

Cake and stuff

Got Jetta's cake done last night. She didn't know what she wanted so we talked and came up with a hat cake. It's not the greatest but when you're working at midnight....here's the results!! AND i have found that me and the basketweave....are not compatable. It looked like the farmer that tried to weave that straw look had gotten his straw from the compost pile and was blind to boot!! LOL!!

A week ago or so troll found this car and after talking around we decided that this was the car for me. I'm thrilled beyond words. I now do not have to be stuck here at the house all day everyday when school starts. It's a 2004 Saturn ION. Handles like a dream. Has a couple little issues but I have fallen in love with it. So.....La'Boog has her own wheels!! This is the first since I was 16 years old. I'm ecstatic!!!

more of vacation

Just a few more pictures of vacation.
This was the nook that "sold" Troll on the cabin. Forget enough beds, bathrooms, or running water!!! He saw this and said this was the one! :)

Enjoying the view from the lower deck while I stood on the upper deck and took a picture of them.

Bia had had enough and crashed into bliss.

I guess Naddy (my knickname for Nadia) had had it too and thought sleep was better than driving for miles on end doing nothing!

Wonders!!

You know... it has never ceased to amaze me at how God works in people's lives. And when you're doing all you know to do to serve Him and stay in the center of HIS will it seems as if the blessings just don't stop. I'm not talking about immense and tremendous all the time. In fact, there are times when it's just the blessing of breathing that means so much. However, there have been a few times in my life where God has blessed to the point of me wondering if I'd be able to breathe again!!! Those times when you feel your gonna have a heart attack and pass out! Those times when you're left standing there with mouth hanging wide open and eyes busting outa their sockets. Well let me tell you...just such an incident happened last week and I just HAVE to share.

We've been in need of a new washer and dryer for a few months now. Seems as if our washer (in particular) had decided that it didn't like our family anymore. It wouldn't run part of the time, left big stains more parts of the time and all around...just didn't want to work. Well we just figured we'd muddle thru a few more months until tax return and get a new set. So basically all we'd done was talked about it to each other and let it at that. WELL... God had other plans for us. This time last week an envelope with $1,000.00 cash in it and marked washer/dryer made it thru our door and into our lives!!! WOW!! I couldn't believe it. Wasn't expecting it or anything. I think I did stop breathing for quite a bit and I'm sure there was drool falling out of my mouth as I stared in amazement. But this is just how God works at times in our lives. He's been so good to us. Blessed us with a wonderful marriage, five super kids, a great church and list upon list more. I didn't want to take this extra special blessing for granted and come across ungrateful. So to the person/s that did this....we are so very thankful and may God bless you immensly as you have done what He asked and blessed us!!

These are the machines I got. I have cut my laundry time in half with them as they are able to do twice the amount of load than what my previous washer/dryer could do. So it cuts my time in half that I spend in our dungeonistic basement!!! LOL!! God is good.....all the time!

Of cafe' and canning

As I've said, we've been in the process of canning and canning some more. I counted up last night all that has been canned in the past few weeks and this is what we've done.
Green beans: 48 qt.
Cherries: 37 qt.
Pickled cauliflower: 19 qt.
Which comes to a total of 104 quarts of produce thru our doors and into jars. I'm really excited about it and have really enjoyed the process that is involved. The kids have been real troopers and have helped out tremendously. It's been fun to get up early and all head to the garden to see what was ready to be picked.

Also this week, Penns Creek camp has been in full swing. That means we've been working at the Chatterbox Cafe' every night. That too has been allot of fun (as usual). Last night was our biggest night where we broke a record in the five years it's been open. We worked for 2 hours non stop. Sold out of burgers, fries, pizzas and fruit. We were very excited to hear the amount of $798 after the ladies counted the money. WOW!!! So even though we didn't get home until after 1 a.m., tired and ready to pass out... we were thrilled with how well things went. Tonight is the last night of it until next year but it's been fun and once again, I've really enjoyed working with Hamburger Head and crew even though the afore mentioned person and his side kick were giving me a rough time of it!! I did feel terrible for Vonnie as she hit the grease patch while carrying a pot of melted cheese and went down faster than greased lightning!! We all thought Marie was going to burst a gasket with how she was laughing over......... well we won't mention what she was laughing over but it was pretty funny. :) So...thanks to all those out there that made our week by coming to the chatterbox and spending your money!!