Working Outside

When I look at my blog, I feel sad that I have missed recording a lot of memories. Summer has almost passed, and I see I did not blog at all. My life has been full of working and working and having the grands overnight. It has really been busy.

There is so much I wanted to accomplish outside this summer. On my day off (usually Wednesday's), it was either raining or I was busy. Now that it is close to fall, I am feeling a bit of panic to get everything done. 

One of the things on my mental lists of things to do was wash the siding on the house. I washed the front of the house, porch, and swing, etc. earlier in the summer. The worst side to clean is where the fireplace is. It is very tall and on a slope, so it is hard to steady the ladder. Last Wednesday I got Ryan to hold the ladder so I could wash it. When we first put the ladder up and it was wobbly and unsteady, he said, "this is not going to work." I told him I had done it for years, and I WAS going to do it. He asked why I didn't let him wash and me hold the ladder. I told him because I couldn't hold the ladder if he started to fall. He said he couldn't hold me either (ha!). Even if he didn't, I had complete confidence he could help me if I started to fall. 

You can see how dirty the siding is next to the bottom. We worked all day just getting this one side washed. It was backbreaking!! By the time we finished, I was really feeling my age. I also felt so blessed and thankful I was able to clean it another year. 

It is still wet in the pic, but you can tell from the pic above it the black is gone.

Today (Sept 2), I worked in the landscaping and trimming the bushes. It is a never ending job. I had cleaned the landscaping earlier in the spring, but it was awful. There is poison ivy growing under our front porch, and vines were all in my landscaping. I tried to be careful, but I still touched it. I washed and washed my arms and hands. Hopefully I will not get it. 

The wheelbarrow is piled with weeds and poison ivy I pulled up from the landscaping.

When I finished pulling the weeds, I washed the lattice with chlorox water. It looked so much better. I also trimmed the bushes on either side of the porch and cleaned the poison ivy out of those areas. I ended up have two full wheelbarrow loads of weeds to take to the woods at the back of my house.

The bushes on the left are not looking so well. The last time I trimmed them, I cut them back too much. I hope they will grow and blend together. I am so thankful to mark something else off my mental list of outside things to do. There is still a lot that needs to be done. 

Nikki has really been inspiring me this week. She is cleaning her upstairs bonus room and her closet. She has gotten rid of tons of stuff. This is her cleaned closet.

Isn't that awesome?!!! I am so proud of her! I have decided I want to work outside on Wednesdays, and inside on Saturdays. I want to clean out and redo a lot of my house. I will just have to take it a little at a time.

This week I got to drive this beautiful car to work.

It belongs to Andrew. Mark had driven to Andrew's work to have new tires put on his car. He left his car with Andrew and drove Andrew's car back here. I drove it the next day to work and to Dad's (Papaw's) house to fix supper for him. That is where I took this pic. I love driving it!!!

Andrew was supposed to come today (wed) to help Ryan fix his truck and get his car. He ended up having to meet with state officials, so he couldn't make it. We still have his car. Ryan is so frustrated. He wants his truck fixed. Actually, the truck really belongs to Andrew, but Andrew is letting Ryan have it to drive to school.

A couple weeks ago Ryan called me at work and frantically said, "Mom, I am freaking out! My truck quit on Emory Rd. and I can't get it started." I said, "Calm down. I will be there in a little bit." I hurried out the door to go help (not that I could do anything). Thank God a couple of guys Ryan knew pulled around the truck, backed their car up to the truck, hooked them up and pulled him into a subdivision right beside where he was. He said a policeman had gotten there right before they did and was directing traffic. The policeman was not too happy with the situation. Ryan said it took about five minutes to get the truck into the subdivision. He was sitting in the subdivision when I got there. He was so discouraged. He said he thought he had driven it for the last time. 

He called a wrecker and had it towed home. It was less than five minutes away. The guy only charged us $50. I thought it was going to be a lot more. Thank God for my job!

Andrew called Ryan on his way home from work. Ryan tried to tell him he thought the truck was finished. Andrew told him to go look at the timing belt. Bingo!!! It had broken. Sooooo, Ryan and I went to get the parts, and Ryan took apart as much as he knew how. It is just sitting there waiting for Andrew. Andrew has a stressful job and a family. :( Hopefully, he can come fix it next Wednesday.

Ok, now for the good stuff. Haha I have kept the grands several times this summer. We always have a blast! I love them so much!! At the back of my house where the garage is, it is private. We put hooks at the top of our garage door frame, and hung a swing for them. 

Nikki told me the sweetest thing the other night. She was telling me that Mason had never told her about a dream he had. Haley tells her about these wonderful dreams she has. They are awesome. Anyway, that morning Mason said, "I see GiGi." Nikki said, "Did you have a dream about GiGi?" He said, "un huh." She said, "what were you doing?" He said, "playing." She said, "what were you playing?" He said, "swinging." Oh, you all know how that thrilled my very heart!

I always let them play in the water. 

Haley loves to make mud pies.

See her in the background? She makes mud pies while Mason swings. She is really good at it.

They are so yummy! (wink, wink) Can you tell she and her mommy watch cooking and cake decorating videos?

The last time Haley stayed we canned green beans that Sandra and Wayne had broken for me.

Bless them!! 
I washed the beans and let Haley fill the jars.

Then she poured water over them.

Then tightened the lids.

Ready to pressure cook. :)

I was also able to put some in the freezer. 

Last week Papaw Sha gave me over a half bushel of beans. I canned part of them and froze the rest. 

Finally, Haley drew the sweetest picture of her and me.

Isn't that precious?! How sweet! Thrills my heart. I love how we are leaning toward each other, and how our eyes are closed. <3 I love our puffy sleeves too. Here is a picture of a witch mixing a potion in her cauldron.

See the potions on the shelves? And see the bat? She is so detailed. 

Ok guys, I'm off to bed. I pray you all are blessed and safe. Till next time.

More Snow

Yesterday (Monday) a lot of the snow melted. Bless Ryan's heart, he worked on the driveway until it was clear enough for him to drive my car to the garage.

No problems on the curve:

Made it to the bottom. :)

You can see part of the road was dry before Ryan got our driveway cleared enough to drive down to the garage.

This morning a little after 5AM, Mark woke me to tell me school was closed because it snowed again. I went ahead and got up while he got ready for work. He left to go to work, and as soon as it was light, I took a picture.

Mark sent me this picture he took on his way to work.

The road was covered in snow. He made it safely, thank God.

Ryan got up not long after Mark left. I fixed breakfast for both of us. He always eats turkey bacon, and I always eat a couple of pieces of turkey bacon and a couple of eggs. Since I was working in the kitchen, I went ahead and fixed some cookies for Ryan to snack on. The batch I make doesn't make many, and he can eat them all in a day, especially if he is home.

Ryan went out to take care of things outside. He loves to clean off the truck and make sure it will start.

He also checked the heat pump.

The outside unit had stopped working and the repairman came yesterday and fixed it. Ryan was making sure there was no snow buildup in it. It is working good now.

And then the driveway.....poor Ryan.

The clearing he worked on so hard yesterday was covered. He started shoveling and then he had a great idea.

Since the snow was light and fluffy, he tried using the leaf blower to remove it.

It worked like a charm.

He cleaned tracks all the way to the bottom. Yay! And it didn't take near as long. Although he was out probably an hour in 26* weather. He was freezing when he came inside.

I worked on washing today. I put clean sheets on the bed too. Yesterday I worked on cleaning out cabinets in the kitchen.

Last night I cleaned and cut up four packages of strawberries.

I also made a dessert for supper.

Since I have been off, I have had time to mop floors, clean the bathrooms, vacuum, dust, etc. It is wonderful to get all this stuff done.

Now to my babies....Today Nikki texted me that Haley and Mason were playing and Haley said, "If you don't start acting right you're not gonna be my husband." Hahahaha!

Yesterday she sent me a text that they were playing tea party and Masey was pretending to eat. Haley had to tell him over and over to pour her tea. :) He said, "oh, I sorry Sissy." Ahh I love them so much!!

I am thankful our heatpump is working fine now. I am thankful Mark made it to work and back with no problems. I am thankful Ryan has had some time off to enjoy. Ok, till next time...















Snowy Week

I did not think we were going to get any snow this year. Last week we got more ice and snow than we have in several years. It started out as freezing rain and sleet and ended in snow.

My car was stuck in the garage from Sunday to Friday morning. Our driveway was solid ice under snow.

Ryan worked and worked several days trying to clear the snow from the driveway.

He could not break up the ice underneath the snow.He even took buckets of warm water and poured on it to melt it. It turned it to slush and he was able to get part of it up. When it started turning back to ice, he came back inside. 

I stepped out on the back deck and you can see my footprint does not go down at all. I stood on top of ice.

I LOVE snow. I love to watch it snow. It is so peaceful and beautiful. 

By the end of the week, we had quite a bit of snow.

I was so excited we had enough snow to make snow cream.

It was delicious. I used a new recipe this year and it was so yummy! I mixed a can of sweetened condensed milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a bowl. Then I added snow until it was the consistency I wanted. 
 

Friday morning Mark was able to drive my car to the top of the driveway. If I can make it out of our subdivision, I have no problem driving. They always keep the main roads mostly clear. Ryan and I went grocery shopping and got lots of groceries. :) It felt so good to be stocked up again. We also bought a bag of salt and took it to the top of Nana and Papaw's driveway. They had been stuck all week too. Papaw and Tim drove to the bottom of the hill at the end of the driveway and met Ryan. I left Ryan with them to help salt the driveway while I went to Ingles. I also picked up a few groceries for Dad. When I went to his house, I almost didn't make it up his driveway. I had to back out on the road and get a running start. His place had more snow than we had. Dad was fine (thank God).  He said he had lost power a couple of times but it wasn't for long.

I left Dad's and picked up Ryan. When we got home, I told Ryan to take in the groceries and I was going to work on clearing the driveway. When our road is clear like this. 

our driveway is covered unless we shovel it. I could not make any headway with it either because of the ice. Ryan had been able to clear a small path in areas, but I couldn't do any more. I put salt down to try to melt more of it. I hated to leave my car at the top of the driveway like Mark does. It seems like every time I leave it out in the bitter cold my battery dies or something else happens. I was just afraid to take a chance going down the driveway and slide in the woods past the curve. So I parked at the top.

 

Friday night Ryan wanted to go to Walmart and get some ear phones. Since I had forgotten a couple of things, we went. When we got back, I asked Ryan if he thought I could get down the driveway. He said he would direct me, and he thought I could make it. Thank God I made it fine with his help.

 

Friday night/Saturday morning it snowed again. It was beautiful.

By that afternoon, the temperature was rising and it had started to melt. It was still slick though. My neighbor always has a hard time getting to the top of the hill in front of our house.

 

He did finally make it up the hill. 

Haley and Mason were able to enjoy a little bit of snow too. (Yay!)
 

 

Mason didn't really care for the snow. He loves warm, not cold.
 
Haley made snow angels.
 

 

And she also made colored snow from food coloring.
 

 

See the spray bottle behind her? The next picture is one I plan to have developed. I love, love, love it!!!
 

Awwww....my sweet babies!!! <3

Church was cancelled Sunday because of the snow. Mark and I planned to go to see the grandbabies. Mark was concerned about getting my car up the driveway, so he did that before he got ready.

He had a hard time getting his car out of the driveway, so he could bring my car up. After several attempts with mine, he made it to the last little hump, and then had to clear the snow.
 

 

Yes, he is wearing shorts. :) When we left, he drove to the end of our street, and I drove the rest of the way. 

We got down to Andrew and Nikki's around 12:45PM. They left to go look for furniture for Haley's room while Mark and I watched the babies. We had a blast!! I love them so very much. Mason is Papaw's (Mark's) little boy. He sat on his lap for the longest time. Haley loves to tease Mark and call him Mark instead of Papaw. I was so glad he was with me to spend time with them. 

I baked a ham overnight, fixed potato salad, carrots, Mary's dressing, and gluten free biscuits. Haley and Mason both ate wonderful that day. (Haley ate three biscuits)

After we ate lunch I rocked Mason to sleep. It was one of the best things ever to hold him in my arms and snuggle. He melts my heart. I laid him in his bed when he went to sleep. Then I held Haley for a while. She didn't go to sleep, but it was wonderful to hold her. I had the great idea for us to clean her bedroom so it would be ready for the new furniture. She didn't think that was a great idea (Ha!), so I told her to come talk to me while I cleaned. We had the best time! If I didn't know where something went, I would ask her. She would tease and speak jibber jabber, and I would say, "oh, you stop!" She would laugh and laugh. It was so good to hear her laugh. 

Andrew and Nikki got back a little after 5PM and we left around 6:15. We had no time to spend with them.:(  I really wish we lived close to each other. Maybe some day. Can you believe I spent the whole day there and forgot to take a pic. Grrrr There is always so much going on that I forgot. 

When we got near our house on our way back, we changed and Mark drove. I did not want to attempt our cul-de-sac and driveway. Mark just parked at the top of the driveway because it was so slick.

I am so thankful we had such a great time seeing our grand littles. I am so thankful we made it safely there and back. I am so thankful I have had time off so I can blog (ha!). Ok, I try to post three, so until next time.

         

                  

Snow and Ice

It has been so long since I posted, I hardly know where to start. So I am just going to start with today (and yesterday).
Yesterday (Monday) they predicted freezing rain and snow, so I didn't go to work. I now have a job helping a sweet lady who has dementia caused by strokes. Anyway, it was so good to have a day off. Ryan was off for President's Day. They would not have had school if he didn't have the day off. We had freezing rain in the afternoon. Mark's work closed early, it took a long time for him to get home. He said it was very bad.
I hardly did anything the whole day. That morning I put a ham in the oven on low temp. to bake all day. That evening I fixed potato salad and peas, and we had that for supper. It was so yummy. Ryan even went back later for another plate. I love when he does that. He is so skinny he could use some extra weight. Last night I went to bed @10:30 (I think).
This morning I woke to the noise of Mark getting ready to go to work. It was 8:30. Mark was going in a little late to see if the roads would be better. We didn't know if he would be able to get up our cul-de-sac hill. He let the car run a long time and scraped the ice off everything.

There was not a lot of snow, but there was ice everywhere. You can see ice hanging from the gutter of the porch roof.

I don't know how cold it got last night, but this morning the "feel like" temp. is 10 degrees. It is bitterly cold.

Mark made it fine driving to work. His tires spun as he drove up the hill, and he said our subdivision was a sheet of ice. But, the main roads were treated.
After Mark left I fixed Ryan turkey bacon for breakfast, and I ate apple and peanut butter. Then Ryan went to take Zoe out and feed her, and start his truck. I stayed inside and ironed eight shirts for Mark to wear to work.

I had to take breaks because it hurts my back to stand that long. I think it took me an hour and a half. So thankful to get that accomplished.
Ryan came back inside and told me he tried to scrap some of the driveway, but it was solid ice. We had planned to get it cleaned off today, but I guess that will have to wait. We ate lunch around 12PM. It was just leftovers from last night but it tasted better today. :)
After lunch Ryan cleaned the top ledge of the front bathroom shower and took out the old caulking. Then he put new caulking on it. I scrubbed all the spots on the white clothes so I could wash them. I wear white shirts under everything. I have the palest face and for some reason the white next to my face makes me look like I have a bit of color. When I wash a load of whites, I have to scrub the neck of just about all of the white shirts I wear because they have make-up on them. It takes a long time. I got all of it taken care of, but when I sent Ryan downstairs to put a load in to wash, there was a load in the washer and dryer. I had him take care of the washing and I baked cookies for him.

Around 4PM I decided I was going to take a little nap. I laid down on the couch with my tablet. I read the Bible and then looked at instagram. Then Mark called and said he was leaving work in a little bit. I thought there was no way I was going to be able to settle down. I think I did doze a few seconds right before Mark came home. I have felt so tired today. I don't know why.
I started supper around 5:30PM. Tonight I fixed pizza for supper. It takes so long for me to fix it. I cooked a pound of bacon and some sausage. I used a gluten free crust.



I think it was after 6:30 when I finally got supper ready. It was worth it though. We all loved it. Since I washed dishes while the pizza was baking, I hardly have anything to do to finish cleaning the kitchen. I can just relax tonight. :)
They have already called off school for Ryan tomorrow. Dennis (the man I work for--taking care of his wife) told me he is going to be home all week, so I can be off if I need to be. So I am not planning to work. They are expecting another inch of snow on top of the ice we have tomorrow morning. It is supposed to be 17* tonight, so it will only be worse. I hope I can sleep in a little bit again tomorrow.
I am so thankful for a good day. I am thankful Mark made it to work and back without any problems. I am thankful my family made it safely as well.  And finally, I am truly thankful we have not lost power during these cold, icy days. I pray you all are safe and blessed tonight and tomorrow. Till next time.