it is quiet this morning ,i have noticed that when i have a loud busy day ,the next is usually quiet and peaceful ,i thank God for this,my young son feel back asleep on the sofa this morning ,the phone isn't ringing and there is no one at the door,all is as it should be in my world ,with no trouble and only the normal problems of life ,this to i am thankful to God for ,i have reached a point in my life ,where i look at everything ,as this to shall pass ,all the troubles large and small shall pass and God will continue to set things right ,my daughters are still in the mist of young family life and that can be so trying ,i have come to realize that the children of older parents are truly blessed ,we have been there and done that and are grounded in our world ,the rules are the rules ,and we had our time to work them out with the older kids ,i love to tell my youngest two ,your brothers and sisters already tried that,so no it isn't going to work for you either l.o.l.
i am organizing my craft room ,so that i can get to my stuff i have a lot of sewing,knitting and crocheting to do ,the weather here has been just beautiful ,since October began ,i love the early fall here ,the woods are breath taking and the air is mild ,tomorrow my oldest daughter and i will go get groceries and we have decided after that we will have a Halloween movie day ,can you say Pumpkin Head ,that movie scares my daughter ,she is 29 and has watched it 50 times and still jumps like a pre teen girl when ever the creature appears on the screen
i love to hear her squeal,she is studying toward her PHD in commuication at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa ,and is still frightened by a b rate horror movie

i haven't been posting ,and this blog has never become what i wanted it to be ,so i think it is time for that to change ,i will be going through and deleting some of the old post ,but right now what i have on my mind is food ,not the kind you go to the grocery store and pick up ,but the kind you can produce yourself ,i have a thought that keeps recurring to me ,what if all we had to get was what we could grow or raise ,how would our eating habits change ,just what can be grown here ,i know rice can be grown in the southern United States but i have no idea how to do it ,there is a book on small scale grain farming i think i will buy but i don't know if it covers rice ,how much land do i need to produce rice ,my thoughts are on healthy foods that i can grow for my family ,along with rice i think about fats is it possible to grow olives here ,i know that they grew in Turkey when my father was stationed there ,and the winters there were cold much more snow than bama gets ,so maybe ,i know i could produce lard from pigs but that's not really all that healthy ,what about salt is there a local salt mine around here

i am going to slowly stop buying foods that i know we cant get locally ,it wont shorten our list of foods all that much but there are some things i don't think we can grow here bananas and oranges being two of them

i will be making a list of the foods i know i can grow or raise ,just to see where it would leave us and others like rice i will research .

i don't know where this will lead so i will just have to up date as we go along

Life on hold and how to live it ,or the doctors are killing me slowly

well ,it all began with a diagnosis of a heart disease know as arterial fibrillation,i spent a miserable 6 days in the hospital and now i am waiting for the surgery to fix the problem ,the doc said it would only take 3 or 4 months to get it done so..........................as i wait about all i can do is read and write anything else makes my heart race like i am running a marathon,and let me tell you this sucks ,big time

in the mist of it all i started having problems with my stomach that i thought were related to the heart condition ,turns out that when i finally went to the emergency room at 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning to be diagnosed with diverticulitis,that according to the 12 year old doctor it was caused by old age ,now i know i am not a spring chicken any more but i don't see 50 as all that old either 80 is old ,50 is mature ,well grounded ,dignified,my first thought at this comment was to punch that boy in the mouth ,and teach him to show a little respect for his elders ,since my husband was watching ,i decided to take my high fiber diet and go home , but i am sure i will see this young punk again and hopefully we will be alone

it has been a long while since i posted steady to this blog but as i have very little to keep my mind busy right now hopefully i will think of something to write about

my youngest daughter has streaked her hair black and the over all effect reminds me of Pepe le Pew,she has informed that i am just wrong ,ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh ! the things we do for fashion ,i hope she out grows this soon

my youngest who is 10 has become interested in when he will go through puberty ,and how he will know when he does

,i assured that he will know and hopefully he has a couple of more years to go yet ,i asked where he heard about puberty he said in a late night movie ,i gotta get this kid in bed earlier...................

back at last

my puter crashed gasp !*&^%$# and again @#$%^&

so for 2 weeks i have been off line ,until i could find one in my price range that i liked,i had gotten lazy anyway and the trying to post once a day went out the window ,but while i was away ,i finished an entire double wedding ring quilt top for my oldest ,it will be a Christmas present this year ,this week i will start one for daughter number 3 and her husband

today i have spent the day downloading everything i cant live with out on to this puter,my baby girl also got a new lap top and her net book became youngest sons ,so the kids are happy and the new Wii their father bought for himself ,saying the entire time it was for them ,yea ! right l.o.l,they will be busy for awhile ,i should have at least 24 hours of peace and quiet ,but today i think i have a shopping hang over,hubby is bringing home a car for me that he bought from a friend at work so there goes my excuse not to drive $%#@!%^&*

the things i keep to remind me

in my home is a rotary dial phone wired to the wall ,and working ,when i put it in my children smiled and whispered behind their hands,there is a television set up with rabbit ears that doesn't work ,to remind me of a time when we had 3 channels ,you got up to change them and tv was free,oh ! the tv will come on and you could hook a dvd player to it and watch what ever you wanted ,it just wont pick up a digital signal
in my kitchen stands a cast iron wash pot ,inside it is are 2 rub boards a coil of clothes line ,clothes pins ,a large pile of octagon laundry soap i also have a number 10 wash tub and my children say why ,this is when i smile and say" i may need them"
you see i have all the modern convinces but i still enjoy books made of dead trees ,water clear and cold from a spring ,real heat in the winter also from dead trees ,not the forced air kind ,standing over a vent to get warm on a cold winter just isn't the same as standing in front of a roaring wood fire
when the weather man predicts bad weather ,my neighbors rush to the grocery store to get canned soup and bread ,i make a pot of soup from my home canned garden abundance and several loaves of sourdough bread,while they are scurrying to get home on lethal roadways i am safe and warm enjoying the delicious smell of fresh baked goods ,while others struggle to make a 2 family paycheck work ,i sit in my old house not wishing to keep up with the Joneses ,i enjoy my paid for house ,my paid for car and i don't worry about what my future may hold ,i am in Gods hands ,i have learned to predict the weather by watching my animals ,i have a mama cat that is better than the guy on the weather channel ,if she comes in the house and refuses to leave the back of the chair ,closets to the wood heater there is a storm coming ,if she lays dead center of the kitchen window things are pleasant but cool ,the sunny spot on my bed means no worries at all ,sunny and warm ,the back of the couch ,rain for days ,and when she leaves the house ,spring is here we will see her next fall,if she comes home in the summer it is only to tell us heavy summer rains are coming ,and they are rare here

my son is a home owner now ,we got the call yesterday ,that the house down the road is his now if we can buy out the other 2 neighbors this side of the hollow will be ours ,my oldest dd is working on the house next door to ds,and my dd number 3 is working on the house between us ,the one across the street has been mine since 1994,if we are successful of the 8 houses in the hollow they will be shared by 2 last names,life isn't always easy in the backwoods but it is always happy for me anyway ,most people want a major city with in 10 minutes of their door ,i call fast food raw fruits and vegetables they call it Micky d,s, i can usually have a meal on the table in the time you drive to ,order and wait at the drive through and that is with no plan ahead time

dd number 2 and i went to the thrift store yesterday and i got half a buggy of crochet yarn for ten dollars ,it was all tangled up but only took about 10 minutes to straighten out when i got home ,it is going in the scrap afghan ,which is now as big as a couch throw ,don't know how much bigger it will be ,it may cover my queen size bed when i am done ,we will see ......................

dreary rainy day

dreary rainy day,that is what i woke up to,so we had a slow school day and finished early ,i am left with an empty afternoon to fill ,not that i am complaining ,not at all

i have been reading about dead birds falling from the sky across the world and floating fish ,i offer no opinion about the cause but i do have theories

most people don't want to hear what i think ,so i keep it to myself

i think i will knit some on that darn afghan ,i finished reading the great god pan last night ,so i guess i will work on lair of the white worm

hamburgers for supper

okay ! so i have been lazy for a few days

once again i don't really have anything to talk about ,my goal is to get really good at this and to have a riveting and stimulating post every day of the week ( yeah ! right ) not enough happens around here

although the iguana nearly escaped the other day ,see i like the iguana ,i hold it and pet it ,but i have this thing about it getting out on its own ,i don't know why but if it leaves its cage on its own ,i freak out ,my husband has it in an aquarium with glass over all except a spot abut 6 inches by 12 inches where there is wire,and he discovered that if he climbed on his tree limb he could push that wire up and get out ,i noticed this when i heard the wire move ,i calmly walked over and set the top part of a shoe makers last on top of the wire and left it there ,it is still there i am taking no chances on mid-night escapes ,i would really freak if i woke up and found it in my bed some cold dark night

hubby is off work again for another 4 day stretch for New Year ,i am glad the holidays are almost over ,i have a lot to do that i want to get on with ,Zaks reading needs some work and i need peaceful days to get it where i want it to be

i started this post a couple of days ago and i am completing it the evening of new years day ,the holidays are all most gone except for a small celebration of Old Christmas,for my husband and the youngest children,i found out about old Christmas in my Internet reading and decided to make it part of our holidays ,like May Day i think i am one of the only people around here who know what they are and try to have a celebration of some kind on those days,my husband loves celebrations that include food and sweets of different kinds so he is all for this,i observed all the old superstitions of the day and ate every thing you are suppose to ,the turnip greens were wonderful the black eye peas ,my dd made were great and the ham was cooked by me to perfection ( of course )

now tomorrow ,i will have to clean up all the messes,i held my little man while he slept and gave him lovin' till it made him mad l.o.l

the future for us all is bright and it is a brand new year ..............................

Snow really ?

well, i don't guess you could call it a white Christmas ,but we did have a few snow flakes ,falling pretty heavy for a few minutes there ,a very rare occasion for central bama,if we see snow it is normally late January ,or February

i looked out the back window a few minutes ago and the mist rising in the woods ,always makes me grateful my ancestors settled here on this beautiful slope half way down the mountain,it reminds me of the old world ,the hills of northern Scotland ,my blood remembers what it looked like there ,i think these hills were the closest they could find to home

the mist are so beautiful among the trees,there is just no way to get it across in words ,

we ate a very large Christmas and now i have a turkey hangover only one of the children couldn't get here for dinner ,i wont see her and her family till Monday ,due to their work schedule
one more holiday to go next Saturday ,i will cook the traditional New Years feast ,to thank God for all our blessings
Merry Christmas to you all !

well i missed last night posting

but i have a good reason//////////////////////////,we went to finish up Christmas shopping and when i got back my father in law brought deer and i had to cut up and package ,what i wasn't going to cook today ,so that took awhile,the young ones went to spend the night with dd number 3 last night ,so we had the house to ourselves ,i rented a movie off direct tv ,i love m.night shyamalan ,dh isn't so crazy about his stuff ,he doesn't like horror or sci-fi in general but will tolerate some fantasy ,tonight i have found the book of Eli on one of the movie channels ,so i am going to watch

dinner last night :egg rolls

tonight :deer tips and rice

knitting :the afghan

crocheting :not today

reading:the same plus the first book of swords ( i love that series)

8 days a week

eight days in a row i have come back here and posted now,i am proud of my self ,today we didn't do much
ds number 2 and i watch stargate episodes on DVD most of the day,i cleaned the cabinet top book shelf and tomorrow i will start to put my books on it ,only my favorites will be in this one
well school is now out until the 4th of next year ,my son is very happy about this ,even though he home schools ,he is glad his sister is home for about 3 weeks
i have a lot planed for us to do ,sometime tomorrow we will bake cookies and blond brownies
but first we will sleep late ,i told dh not to wake any of us when he got up to leave l.o.l.
i have noticed that since the grown children moved our dinners have gotten much simpler ,dh hasn't wanted complex meals ,today's was about the toughest i have done in awhile and it was pretty simple ,i have got quite a bit done on the afghan today
dinner :stove top stuffing casserole ,black eyed peas,fried potatoes
knitting :the afghan
crocheting :the shawl
reading:the same

i have two very old quilt chest one large ,one average size,i have thought for a while that i wanted the large one in my bedroom ,to put my clothes in ,and i have had the top half of a Hoosier cabinet for about 5 years now, that i thought would make a great book shelf if hung on the wall above the quilt box

number one ds and number two d grand son came over to day to split fire wood,and move furniture for me so i had them hang the cabinet on the wall above the quilt box we moved in last week ,it looks great and tomorrow i will start putting my books on it ,i managed to crochet some today on the shawl i am making to replace the one my dd lost when she moved back from college ,i even managed to knit on the afghan ,

i talked to the neighbor who is trying to sell the house one door down from me and hopefully it will work out where my oldest ds can buy it ,then we will own three in the neighborhood,there is one more sitting empty that we will try to acquire ,eventually

things have been real quite around here today even with the boys here this morning ,i am tired tonight from pulling on the furniture trying to help,just a sign of getting old ,i guess,i will be glad when the hub bub of Christmas and the new year is over and we get on with the long winter months ,i guess i am living in anticipation of spring,,i have great hope for this spring and all i hope to get done ,the garden the animals ,baby goats and chicks .................

dinner :sloppy joe's and french fries

crocheting :shawl

knitting :scrap afghan

reading :very little today

today we cleaned

i made the kids slow down today ,they have been to busy ,with spend the nights,going to friends and having friends over ,two of the cousins called today ,but i didn't let them come over ,we needed a day ,they mostly got their rooms clean and rested today

dd number 6 went to her first teenage ( or should i say pre-teen party ,she is only 12 ),she partied till 9 p.m. last night and it made her feel grown,a 14 year old at the party told her she was the prettiest one of her sisters ,(sounds like a juvenile player to me )

we went over this afternoon to see the baby for a few minutes,dh didn't want to stay long he just wanted to check on them all 'i have made a good bit of progress on the scrap afghan and hopefully it will be finished soon

this is the sixth day in a row i have posted ,i am so proud ,just wish i had more to say ,but hopefully i will get better at this soon

knitting :the afghan

crocheting :not today

dinner :hot dogs

reading :a little

gearing up for Christmas

dd number 2 and ds number and i went to church this morning ,our church has a food bank and they always have lots of extra bread to give away ,and i being as frugal as i am (my children call it being a cheap skate ),i have started taking this bread slicing it and making french toast sticks for the little ones ,i freeze these and then all the kids have to do is nuke them in the mornings ,usually on Monday mornings i will make french toast sticks ,biscuits ,waffles and pancakes ,depending on what we are running low on ,i have a turkey in the oven that my son gave me ,i already had one in the freeze when he gave me this one ,so i put it in the oven,and it will make great turkey sandwiches

i have been busy all day with kids and what not so now i am going to knit

dinner :turkey sandwiches

knitting :that afghan

crocheting :not today

reading :hopefully back to my book right before bed time

what a day

to begin the story of this day,i will start with the pictures they are of my latest grandson ,and what can i say he is just gorgeous

but on to the real day ,i went Christmas shopping with dd number 2,and that took most of the morning came home wrapped presents and dd number 3 came over and brought ,my darling grandson for me to kiss and hold

the afternoon was shaping up to be a quiet one ,until dd number 2 called to say ,dd number 3 husband ,had been in a car wreck and they were all headed to him ,it turned out he was okay but the car was a complete loss,

as i told them things can be replaced ,people cant

dinner :red beans and rice

knitting :yea ,right like i had time today

crocheting ;same as knitting

reading :where is that book

gotta love that bama weather

our weather loves to tease us ,we had two days of temps in the low teens ,and this morning it was 54 at 5 a.m.,that means our temps went up over night l.o.l.,this can only happen in the winter in Alabama

ds and i didn't do a whole lot today ,we mostly played hooky ,i have almost finished his ski cap and even made progress on that darn scrap afghan ,my son is coming tomorrow to move furniture after i get back from wally world

sorry about the lousy pic ,my batteries are dead ,so i had to use the camera on dd net book ,i really didn't use a pattern for this ,i basically made a crocheted cap and kept going when i got to the eyes i skipped 2 rows and left them open,he didn't want a space for the mouth ,just the eyes

two more rounds and it will be finished and tomorrow i will start dd flip top mittens

dinner : hamburgers

reading:same as yesterday

knitting :ditto

crochet:ditto