little house in the pines

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Pay It Forward.........


If you are wondering what this is all about and to join the fun go and check over to seem what Pay It Forward is all about at Forward To The Past

See you over there :)


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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

July fun!


   Tomorrow is our 20th wedding anniversary.  We both have to work but have Friday off, so we are going out for a nice dinner to a place we go only for special occasions. 

   On July 4th, we will go to Hubby`s parents.  They have a heart shaped, man made pond that you can ride paddle boats on, fish or swim if you like to swim with fish and mud.  I don`t know how to swim and I wouldn`t like other things swimming with me anyway!  We have lots of good stuff to eat, and play volleyball and just visit with friends and relatives we may not have seen since last year.

   Our vacation starts July 3 till the 20th.  We have some kitchen work to do,  I want to paint the cupboard doors, and we want to paint the bottom part of the living room walls below the boarder white.  I just love to make small changes, it makes such a big difference.

  We will also be taking curtains down and washing the windows in the whole house, an every year thing.  We do summer cleaning, not spring because it`s when we have time.

  I got a new to me reconditioned dryer on Monday.  Our old one broke during the winter.  I will still hang things outside if it ever stops raining, but it`s so nice to be able to dry the small stuff and everything if I need to.  I had forgotten how nice and soft they get and how nice they smell.

   I hope I relax and unwind enough to be able to sleep better while we are off.  I usually only sleep 5 hours or so, and wake up at least 3 times a night, and sometimes it`s hard to get back to sleep.  Then I count the time I have left if I could get to sleep right NOW!  But, it doesn`t happen.  Then I feel like my feet  are stuck in the mud all day, and I have to walk and move quick at my job.

   It is getting late and I am cutting myself short on sleep time again.

   Have a wonderful July 4th, everyone!

                  That Girl


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Saturday, June 27, 2009

heat wave in june




It's June and we're at the tail end of a heat wave. It's been over 90 degrees for over a week now. While many others complain, I really don't mind the hot weather. That's because I can't help but remember January when we were buried in ice with no electricity and freezing cold conditons.

Besides, this is the time of year that tomatoes, peppers, green beans and all the good stuff from the garden becomes ripe!

I was outside today enjoying the scents of the garden. I trellised the tomatoes, which were determined to grow to a new zip code. Last week, an attempt to drive bamboo stakes into the ground was met with near disaster after one of the stakes broke and left me on all fours on the ground. (yes, shoulders still hurt!)

But, while cleaning the house and moving things around, guess what I found? The heavy HAMMER that I couldn't find last week! With twine, scissors and the heavy hammer in hand, I went outside and drove the stakes into the ground. With a sturdy 'fence' now placed among the tomatoes, I cut twine and moved the branches off the ground so the fruit would receive better air circulation and I could easier pick once everything is ripe. And THAT won't be long from now! LOL!

Tomatoes have an odor all of their own. In the warmth of the late June sun, I relished the smell of green branches and tomatoes mingling with the warm earth odors. So good and full of promises of tomato salsa, fresh cut tomatoes on sandwiches and stews full of summer's richness this winter.....

Over in the green beans, I found another handful of beans to add to what I found the other day. I LOVE fresh green beans cooked with fresh onions. That is an astounding taste! Even better, when tomatoes ripen, to add a bit of bacon to the mix. Oh yum! Delicious!

Another bag of raspberries! If I can just get another two or three, I'll have enough for my raspberry jam! The jelly jars are so ready, willing and able to be put to good use in this fashion! I bought the quilted kind - only because they were on sale. But they add a jewel facet to the deep, rich colors of the fruit jewels I'll soon put inside the jars. I've already made blueberry, cherry and blackberry jam. Still thinking about strawberry and rhubarb mix into a jam....have enough to turn that creation into reality....

Ah, three fat blueberries hid deep in the shade of their shrub. Others are turning red and purple. Soon, there will be more fat berries to pop into my mouth. But today, the three were quickly dealt with in a satisfying pop inside my mouth. Ahhhhh! The summer's warmth bled with deep juiciness....

Van will soon be repaired. Needed new transmission. Well, that's not what it's gonna get. Instead, will be rebuilt transmission. LOL! MUCH cheaper to go that route than to put in brand new one. If I can just get this tank to limp along until I can afford something different, that's all I ask.

Took granddaughter to the river front in Henderson, Kentucky earlier in month. They have a nice water spout park on the river front. It's enjoyable to sit there, getting splashed with cooling water, and watching the kids play. It's free and everyone has a blast going there for cooling fun. Even me!




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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Storms


It was really hot and humid today.  I didn`t realise it because I was in air conditioning all day at work.  I got in the car to come home and put the back windows down about halfway.  The AC in my car does not work and the driver`s side window sometimes won`t go up, so this is the best way to get air in a hot car that`s been sitting in a parking lot all day.  I guess there were some storm warnings out because I heard some one talking about it at work.  On my way home, the wind was really blowing, about 60 mph the news said.  It was very hard to keep the car steady on the road.  I thought maybe the wind was catching and going through the back windows so I put them up.  It still was difficult to stay put on the road.  Dirt and dust and branches were flying all around.  I got home and found the tree in our circle driveway broken, a large, fat branch that was half the tree was down.  The neighbor said he was in his garage and heard a big CRACK sound.  I`m not sure if Hubby can save the tree, he hasn`t seen it yet.  They will probably work on it this weekend.  We had just a few sprinkles of rain, some lightening, a couple rumbles of thunder, and 60 mph wind.  I don`t like storms unless someone is with me.  My cat is not a good protecter, he`s a big chicken!

   Well, must get busy, the evening is going by fast!

             That Girl


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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Something's rotten here!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnvPt0E2Ed0
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Thursday, June 25, 2009

June


Can it be nearly the end of June already? Where does the time go? The older I get, the faster time flies. But today, it's hot and sunny. As soon as I walk outside, the smells cooking under a hot June sun assault my senses. I can smell rotting grass and warm earth. I can hear the birds and other summer noises that I forget about over winter. Today, I checked the green bean patch. The beans, small just a day or so ago, have grown fat and long under the sun's warmth. I began to pick, thinking there were likely not more than a handful. Surprise! There were enough to can, were I were so inclined. But I'm not. I'm more inclined to snap them up for dinner with onions - my mouth watering with the thought of fresh green beans. The season's first! I checked the tomatoes. They too have exploded on the vine. I checked the spot where I fell trying to put in stakes Saturday. Since I couldn't find the heavy hammer, I decided the ground was soft enough to stuff stakes into the ground. One of the stakes snapped in two or three pieces, and I landed square on my hands and knees. My sore shoulders continually remind me of that mishap. Looking at the partial bamboo stake remaining in the ground, I'm lucky my shoulders are my ONLY reminders of that day! The jagged edge is much higher and more pointed than my memory gave me. Through the grass, I meandered toward the blueberry shrubs. Shrubs is a good term for them. Planted just a few years ago, they struggle for growth and barely reach my hips in height. They are offering blueberries, but in slow motion. Only two blueberries are ripe enough to pick. It's a good thing I already bought blueberries for jam and didn't rely on these small shrubs, I think to myself. I popped the two blueberries into my mouth where they gush warm and juicy between my teeth. Yum! Back over to the raspberries I wander. They seem to be exploding in their place! I take note to remember to move them this fall, as they have outgrown the space where I planted them just two years ago. Meanwhile, I dig into the canes, looking for the tell tale deep red of ripened raspberries. Sometimes, this requires practically standing on my head to spy the well-hidden fruit. Raspberry canes are hard put to give up their treasures! Meanwhile, the birds are hard put to allow me to pick 'their' patch! They chatter and screech at me about their starving babies. But I pay no mind. After all, we have this same conversation each and every summer when the fruit begins to ripen. I remind them that there is always enough to go around, and besides, wasn't I generous with the cherries earlier in the month and haven't they already stripped ONE of the blueberry shrubs clean in spite of the so-called bird netting I threw over the shrubs last month? The warm metal bowl fills with juicy raspberries. True to my word, there are several ripened berries left on the canes. Inside, I measure out the treasure. One more bag. That's two in the freezer. My hope is to get enough for raspberry jam...but I wonder if I'm going to have to break down and buy a bit of the fruit to have enough? Or, perhaps these raspberries will produce again in the fall? I'm trying to remember the ways and wiles of Heritage raspberries....but my mind fails to help me out. Before returning to the shadows of the cooler kitchen, I visit the blackberry canes. Now, these are wild blackberries! While they produce large, juicy berries that everyone loves, and produce the fruit in such large numbers I can make syrup AND jam, they also produce painful thorns that latch onto anything: Hair, clothing and skin. Those thorns aren't the least bit picky. I told a neighbor I'm going to move some of those canes to the back fence - the one that I constantly fight neighborhood idiots over because they don't like the fence. They've attacked it and broken one spine on the fence I hand built. They also climb it, weakening and breaking more rails. They don't like the fact I stop them from driving thru the area on their four-wheelers, cars and trucks. Well...duh....like I want to encourage such antics! Especially on dark, rainy nights, like the one when I was nearly hit by someone cutting thru in their truck....and I had JUST stepped out my door! I think with pleasure of the first time one of those thugs tries to climb the fence and a blackberry cane latches on to his 'thinking end.' LOL! While my neighbor objects, saying the idiots will 'steal' the berries, I remind him I don't think that scene is likely. I can't imagine folk, who want to take the easy way out, wanting to work that hard to avoid the thorns.... Ah, the garden grows nicely. It has gifted me with some type of vegetable or gourd. I'm not sure which. Perhaps I'll find pumpkins this fall. Perhaps not. But a large vine wiggles it's way among the Kentucky mint and tries to find a way to get closer to the sun. The mint scents the air in a cooling way. For the moment, all is well in my world.....
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Monday, June 22, 2009

This is too important not to pass on



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Thursday, June 18, 2009

Lunch with friends


Just wanted to take a minute to tell you about my lunch with my friends at work. Three of us that work together, me, one guy and another girl, met another girl that used to work there for lunch at the chicken house down the street from work.  We talked and laughed so much that my cheeks hurt!  I don`t even remember eating it was so much fun, but I must have because my plate was empty.  We took a little longer lunch than usual, and it just flew by.  We promised not to let so much time go by again, and decided to have a cookout at her house some time this summer, she lives an hour away.  I hope we do.

   It has been raining and cool here.  I wonder wher summer is?

   My DD has her car back now, it`s fixed and I can park in the garage again.  She still needs brakes,  has a power steering fluid leak, and needs her seat belt fixed.  I was going to go to the award banquet tonight for the little league that DD coachs,  but I`m tired from laughing and  I was out in the rain a lot today and I have a frizzy hair problem, so I`m home.  Glad tomorrow is Friday!

  Thank you all for your comments,  I love it!

            That Girl


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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Rain and work


   There is a relaxing, gentle rain falling this evening.  It makes me even more tired after a full day of work but it is a nice tired.  Work has been rough for the past few days, but it is better now.  Because of the low morale and the people with attitude, work has given me an attitude that I don`t like.  I am not that kind of person.  The attitude is only about work.  I don`t want to be like any of them.  I am praying to not let work get to me.  I only have a little time left before I take early retirement.  After I am home again, the stress will go away, I will have more time to get back to my Bible, and can concentrate on being the wife God wants me to be.  I am always saying I don`t have time for what ever it may be, and I`m tired of that.  I will have time.  I want to take good care of my Hubby and home, and put God first where He should be.

   My DD got a new to her car on Saturday, and it is now in our garage torn apart.  It quit on her Saturday night.  I needs a new alternator, all new brakes, and has a power steering leak.  Hubby and his best friend are waiting for the alternator to come in to at least get it running.  DD is so dissappointed.  She got it from her boss who wants her to start second shift on Monday. so we thought it was reliable.  It is a nice little car so once we get the kinks out it should be okay.

   Tomorrow 3 of my friends from out in the lab where I work (I got moved to customer service) are meeting a girl that used to work there for lunch.  We haven`t seen her in almost 2 years.  I think it will be so fun.

   Sunday Hubby`s parents will be here for Father`s day.  I will post our very simple menu soon.

                 That Girl


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Monday, June 15, 2009

A Simple Woman's Daybook


For Today
Monday June 15, 2009


Outside my Window...it's a quiet morning, just me and the birds so far. The sun is peeking through the trees and the squirrels are starting to make an appearance.

I am thankful that...we're starting a new week and I hope to get a lot accomplished.

I am hearing... birds singing and the tapping of my keyboard. (It's so quiet here in the morning.)

Around the house...the washer is running, the boys are out doing chores.


From the kitchen...more strawberry jam if I can find a place to pick today. Our little patch doesn't produce enough to make large batches of jam for winter, but definitely enough to make sauce to pour over vanilla ice cream after supper.

I am reading...a new book for review.
 

I am hoping...to scratch several things off of my "to do" list this week.


One of my favorite things...that feeling I have after being out in the gardens or in the summer sun. This is such a lovely time of year.


A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... a radio interview tomorrow, a homeschool book sale and potluck, a family reunion


A picture thought to share for the day...  
   Our own homegrown strawberries!

 

Please stop by to visit Peggy  to peek into the lives of other "Simple Women," and to read the guidelines for creating your own Daybook


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