End of the Month

I have slogged through the year. Now it is like the toilet paper at the center of the roll... winding off so fast I won't believe it is gone.
Tom and the twins individuals and I went out to Hobbs State Park yesterday to go hiking. We were on the trail that makes a 4.1 mile loop. My knees were screaming at me before we even hit the trail proper. I didn't mention it to the guys, because I don't want to hold them back. We walked as far as Beaver Lake... where the guys decided we would turn back. I had picked up a 'hiking stick' along the trail, and relied heavily on it as I gimped back to the car. I guess it is a start at getting back into shape. (Even though I keep telling Tom, Round IS a shape!)
Little Dakota Rose has a birthday coming up really fast. She will be a year old on November 11th. I haven't found her a gift yet. I best get with the program with that, as it takes time for gifts to ship.
Connor and Alana are supposed to come visit us this upcoming weekend. I need to find some fun things for them to do while they are here. Fun and inexpensive. (I am supposed to be job hunting but haven't applied at many places.)
We had our first hard freeze this past week. The boys went out and picked all the peppers left in the garden. I did seven pints of peppers with carrots and onions. I also did fourteen more jars of jalapeno jelly. (They are the little half-pint jars.)
I am starting to think about Thanksgiving. Mr C has to work that day, so we can't go anywhere. It looks like it will be just the four of us... :-( (Sad Face).
With the weather turning cooler, I have started doing some baking. Sam wanted some fresh cranberries to make one of his brewed sodas. It didn't take the entire bag. Yesterday I used some of the cranberries, and one of my apples that was getting a bit too soft for anyone to enjoy, and made some cranberry apple bread. It was really good. I have to admit... I have never cut open a cranberry before. I had NO IDEA they are white inside! Any time in the past I have used them, I left them whole. The bread turned out really well. We had it instead of supper last night!
Well, that's about all I can think of for today. I hope you have a blessed week. Thanks for reading!

Happy Birthday!

Birthday! Mine was Saturday. I pretty much wallowed in doing nothing all day. When supper time rolled around and people started wondering what was for supper... I said I don't know!, it's my birthday and I'M NOT COOKING.
So Mr C and one of the boys went out and got fried chicken. He asked what I wanted, and my only input was that it be something I didn't have to cook.
Of course, if he had started into the kitchen to make some of his endless goulash, I might of been forced to decide on something. His goulash is good... though usually entirely too spicy for me. And he is even worse than I am on judging the amount of elbow macaroni to put in. He usually puts the entire pound... for four of us. By the start of the third day, I am getting the stink eye from everyone as I drag out the goulash yet again in my efforts to get it eaten up. I think it regenerates itself in the refigerator... some reaction between the plastic wrap and the macaroni and jalepenos.
Mr. C and Sam also brought me home two presents.... a new slow cooker (because he saw me eying them last week) and a new set of Corelle dishes (but not my pattern.)
I was eying the crock pots because I use mine several times a week, and was thinking of getting a smaller one to supplement the big one. My household is diminishing in size... so unless I get a smaller crockpot, I will have to stop using one. Mr C got me a really nice one... the same size I already have.
We took my gifts back yesterday. I eyed the smaller slow cookers again... and wondered just where I would store one more appliance. I opted to wait on getting a smaller slow cooker for now. I really didn't need dishes.  Mr C had reasoned we needed more bowls. I had purchased a stack at the thrift store a few weeks back... he thought I would like my dishes to match. It really doesn't matter to me whether they match or not. I am the person who bought nine luncheon plates in different patterns just so they would NOT match.
If I am doing a nice occasion and want my dishes to match... I have a beautiful real china set with service for TWELVE.
His thinking was sweet. He didn't seem to mind that I changed my presents for cash.
I know me... I will nickle and dime my cash out and not have any grand thing to show for "what I got for my birthday". But I will enjoy every LITTLE thing I do use the cash for.
In fact, when I leave the library today, I am headed to Hobby Lobby to get a couple of picture frames to embellish, and maybe a canvas to try out a Pinterest idea.
Have a blessed day, and Thank you for reading.
Please remember the Knight family in your prayers in the loss of their child, and the Wilhelm family in the loss of their wife/mother.

Still here... despite the Zombies

The family reunion was nice. I had a good time. Tyrel and Kimber had fun with random cousins that I couldn't even begin to figure out just HOW they are cousins...
Afterwards we went to my Dad's house in East Texas.
I was given a beautiful wall hanging for my birthday. I'm sure most of you have seen it on Facebook. (My birthday will be this coming Saturday.)
This week, I finally went two days in a row without crying over Bill.
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I have been trying to stay away from the grocery stores, and cooking as much as possible from stock on hand. I believe I did pretty well. The cupboards were getting bare (for me), so yesterday Mr C and I went out and stocked up. We went to Sleepy Hollow, a local Seventh Day Adventist run gas station/ health food store. (Quite a combination, right?) We stocked up on things like oatmeal, barley, honey, apples, sweet potatoes, and several spices. From there, it was Aldi's- where we got quite a bit of canned goods. We finished out the trip with a stop at WalMart to get the rest of the items on our list. Except for fresh vegetables, milk, eggs, and meat, we are set for awhile. (The items we use up most quickly.)

I don't know exactly what it is in my makeup... but I "need" to have food in my cupboards and freezer. My in-laws looked at me strangely when I was living in Ohio last year... wondering why I bought more than just a few days worth of food at a time. If I happened to get snowed or iced in... I was ready! It bothered me that both my BIL and my MIL couldn't just go to their pantries and choose something to cook for a meal. Maybe my years of worry over what I was going to feed my children warped my brain! (When my eldest two were toddlers, I had to feed us on about $7 a week. Even in the early 80's, that was hard to stretch.)
At any rate... my pantry is well stocked at the moment.
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I am thinking that my change of routine yesterday affected my dreams last night. In recent weeks, I have been having a cup of herbal tea before bed. Last night, it was "Sleepytime". I also ate a small slice of jalapeno cheese and a few cornbread crackers. A short while after getting into bed, a fit of coughing hit, and I just didn't feel great, so I got up and took a dose of Nyquil (generic, in Original Green Death flavor). I fell into a sound sleep.
I started out dreaming I met Ree Drummond (Pioneer Woman) and was with her as an episode of her TV show was being filmed. We went to the grocery store.... camera crew in our wake. I don't know whatever happened to Ree and the camera crew once the Zombies attacked. I have to tell my boys that planned to hole up in WalMart during the Zombie Apocalypse.... It didn't work. I did discover Zombies can't work round door knobs well, and are really slowed down by locks. At once point... I realized I was dreaming and that really helped a lot.... though I did wake up in a cold sweat. I remember thinking in my dream, that the boys were really going to laugh at me... dreaming I was being pursued by Zombies.
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That's all for this week. Be blessed and tell somone you love them!

October!

Here it is, the tenth month already.
In a couple of days, my Mom will have her birthday. A few days after that is Benjamin's birthday. Happy birthday, Mom and Ben!
Before the month is over, my birthday.
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This has been a difficult year for me. This time last year, I was living in Ohio, waiting for Tom and the boys to move up. I had started a new job. By the first of this year, I was back in Arkansas. There were no big plans on my horizon.
I made a whirlwind trip through Texas and Oklahoma and saw all of my kids. I began job hunting. Then came my Dad's 75th birthday, and we planned a party for him. It was like a family reunion. I got to see six of my kids and four of the grandkids. It was to be the last time I saw Bill.
We just never know how long we have with our family members and those we love.
Job hunting was not happening.
Just over two weeks ago, I was online instant messaging with my friend Laurie. This past Friday, she was laid to rest.
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Good things have happened this year as well.
 Benjamin got married, so I gained the first Mrs. Coder daughter-in-law.
I  made the rounds again and saw all of my kids in August.
(I suppose for the rest of my life, there will be that "someone is missing" weight in my heart.)
I saw my sister Lalani for the first time in seven years.
I got a picture of my grandson Gavin a few weeks ago.
This weekend, I am getting to go to my mom's family reunion.
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Tom and I went out to eat with Becky and Stephen and the kids on Friday night. We ate at the Wooden Spoon, where the twins are working.
The children's menu offered a choice of chicken, catfish, or macaroni and cheese. Tyrel decided he wanted the mac and cheese. At first, Kimber had decided on the chicken. But just before the waitress came for our order, Kimber said she had changed her mind. She says, "Actually... I think I will have the cat food." We were cracking up. (She did get the catfish, and she ate it all!)

The boys came home from work recently with the news that The Wooden Spoon is on a short list of restaurants in our area being considered to be featured on The Travel Channel.

Have a blessed day. Tell your family how much you love them!