~~Exciting News~~

Good Morning~

      It’s going to be another gorgeous day here on the farm.   Warm weather & blue skies.   Now I ask you, does it get any better than that for the month of February?   Actually, the whole winter has been like this.   We’ve only had one real snowfall and even that didn’t last.   Really makes you wonder what our Spring is going to be like.   Pray it’s not going to filled with tornado’s like a lot of the older people are predicting.   That we don’t need!!!!

      As as I mentioned in my last post, we’ve had some exciting news in our family and it just keeps coming……It started in Oct. when our son & his wife Renee announced they were expecting again.   Reese’s little brother (Yes, it’s a boy!!!) is due in June.  I can’t tell you how happy that makes us.

     Two weeks ago we (Keith, Mom, my sister Sindy and myself) were in our local clinic waiting for Mother to see the doctor for a check-up on her knee.  As we were sitting there I could hear my phone ringing but since it was at the bottom of my purse (Yes, we are old and could care less about cell phones.   Only carry one for emergencies.) I couldn’t get to it.   When I finally dug it out I saw that I had missed call from our daughter Kara.   Because she works, Kara never calls during the day so my first thought was something was wrong.   I immediately called her back.   When she answered the phone and I heard her voice I knew I was right.     The first words out of my mouth were, “What’s wrong?”   She said, “Mom, how would you like to be a grandma again?”   Okay, Kara & Paul are big dog lovers so my first thought was they were getting another one.   And that’s just what I said.    She said, “No, I just found out I’m pregnant!”.    Now for a little background here….Kara has never wanted a family.   She loves her job and their dogs have always been her babies.    To say I was in shock is the understatement of the year.   However, the real shock was still to come.   

      Of course I’m yelling out to everyone that Kara’s going to have a baby & everyone is saying how wonderful it was.   I then asked her when she was due.    She said, “March”.   Now I might be old but I still thought it took nine months for a baby to get here.   How could she be due in March.   That was only a few weeks away.   Did she mean next March?    I was really confused.   She then told us she had just came from the doctors office and the doctor told her she was not only pregnant but due in eight weeks and it was a little boy!!!

      How could someone be seven months pregnant and not know it???  Yes, it’s true Kara has really packed on the pounds since her and Paul married a little over two years ago but she’s always called them her “happy pounds”.   But wouldn’t she have felt a baby moving???   Apparently not when you have the stomach problems she experiences.

    To say this family is overjoyed is the understatement of the year.   We are beyond thrilled.   After all these years to think she’s going to have a baby.    And now that the shock of it has wore off, she’s thrilled too.  (Paul has always wanted a baby and now he’s going to have a son!)

     Now we are going wild trying to get things ready for a little boy who will be arriving in less than five weeks.   We are having a shower for her this weekend and the nursery is well underway….It’s being done in a monkey theme.

      In all the excitement of this, our son Seth & his wife Codi brought my late birthday present to me.   Unwrapping it we found a gorgeous frame announcing once again we were going to be grandparents…Their little one is due in Sept.!

      How could anyone be more Blessed than we’ve been?   Three grandbabies in one year!!!!   Every time Keith & I think about it we laugh.  Can you imagine how full this little house is going to be with three babies crawling around on the floor?  And if Seth & Codi have a little boy it’s going to be three little boys crawling around!

    I’m sure the year 2012 will bring it’s share of heartaches and tears, for no year goes by without them.   But for now we will dwell on the good and look forward to the new children joining our family.    Blessed We Are, Sher

     

     

Coming Full Circle

    Life at our house has came full circle.    When your young your parents take care of you.   As your parents grow older, you take care of them.     We never think it will happen but suddenly, without warning that day arrives.   The middle of December my Mom had a full knee replacement.    At the tender age of 84 we knew recovery would be slow, no one knew there would be other problems to contend with.

      For two months my sister Sindy & I have taken care of her every need.   I have to be honest, Sindy has had the majority of the work since Mom’ has been staying at her house.  My ‘job’ has been to go in daily with meals and run her to various appointments while Sindy works one of her two jobs.

      While it was hard to be away from my own home so much, I have to be honest and admit the memories I made with Mom were priceless.    We talked about everything from their feelings when we adopted our son,Michael from South Korea, to what she wanted each one of us girls to have when she’s gone.    These were things that needed to be said now before it’s to late.

      A week ago she felt as if she was strong enough to go home so Keith & I loaded her up and took her back to the farm.    Walking into the house I could tell by expression on her face she was overjoyed to be home.   You could tell she wanted to us to hurry up and leave.   I’m sure she was wanting to ‘talk to daddy’ and tell him what’s been going on.  I know just being home has made her feel as if he’s with her once more.

     She’s been doing pretty good until Friday.   Once again her knee is swollen, as well as her foot.   Keith & I took her to the doctor and she’s on some new medication.    My youngest sister & her husband has been home from Louisiana for Glen’s mothers funeral so they’ve been keeping an eye on her.   They flew back today so tomorrow I’ll call and see how she’s doing.   Hopefully between the medication and bed rest the knee has returned to normal.

     Now that I’m home full time, I’m back to working on a zillion & one different things.  This afternoon I pulled the last loop on my latest rug and tomorrow I’ll start whipping the edges.   I’m excited to get it done so I can start another one.

      Well, it’s getting late and I still haven’t told you our families exciting news.   Guess that will have to wait until my next post.   For now I’m going to head to bed so I can get up super early and start on my rug.   I hope your all staying warm and enjoying these last few days of winter.   Hugs, Sher

~~Feeling The Season~~

 

     It’s a dark, dreary morning here on the farm.   There’s rain in the forecast for the next two days.   After a very dry summer we welcome the rain but it would be nice if we could see a little snow.   After all, we are entering the Christmas Season!

     And speaking of the season~~~I’m happy to announce the house is all decked out in red & greens.   Since we now have three kitties (What was I thinking?) in the house I really didn’t want to put the main tree up until the last possible minute.    However, Keith saw things differently. (Like he’s going to be in here to pull the kitties off it!) so up it went.   Actually they’ve done pretty good where it’s concerned.   They like to sit in the old buggy seat and bat the balls around but for the most part really haven’t bothered it.

     Now I don’t want you to think they are little angles either!    Earlier this month I NP four little sheep off my dear friend Betty’s (From Primitivebetty’s)  “Symple~Herb Filled Sheep” pattern.    Girls if you don’t have that pattern, run right out and buy it.   I swear they are darling and if someone with my sewing skills can put them together, you know the pattern is easy!   I made these for my dear friend Carolyn, trying to duplicate two of her sheep.   I knew wouldn’t see Carolyn before Christmas so decided to stick them in a bowl with some greenery and display them in my house. Starting off, they were on my Hoosier cabinet.  That lasted all of one hour.   Our cat “Baby” must have thought they looked like mice (Hmmm, maybe my sewing skills aren’t as great as I think they are?) and the next thing I know, she’s walking around with one in her mouth!   Screaming “Bad Kitty” and chasing her for five minutes I finally  manage to get it away from her.   By this time I knew they were going to have to be displayed somewhere else.   Deciding high up on my kitchen table would be a safe place, I went happily to bed.    The next morning I awoke to greenery scattered like leaves in the wind and a bowl missing two sheep!   It was hours before I finally found them….One tucked under a throw rug and another under the loveseat.

     Now during the day they are still displayed on the table but each night, bowl & all they are carried to the master bedroom to sleep safely through the night.   Sorry Baby, no more having fun with my sheep while I sleep.

     Since we have so many young’uns they will all be coming home at different times this year for Christmas.   This means ole Mom gets to do tons of baking all month long.   Luckily they each have their ‘favorites’ so I’m not cooking the same old things over & over.   The storage containers are quickly filling up (And un-filling as my crew snacks on them.) and I’m having fun trying out lots of new recipes.   Is it any wonder we are all getting so fat????

     Well girls, the day is quickly passing & I’m not getting anything done.   It’s time to get in gear and who knows, maybe they’ll even be time to pull a few loops on the new rug in there on my frame.    Have a great day and stay warm.   Hugs, Sher

      

A Fall Walk Through Our Cabin

Good Morning!

    Another Thanksgiving has came & gone here on Old Crow Farm.   For the first time in 43 years I didn’t fix the traditional Thanksgiving meal.   It seemed so strange not to have turkey (We opted for a spiral ham which my crew eats much better than turkey.  It was even eaten the night before with our son Seth & his wife Codi.) but I’m thrilled not to be throwing out turkey this morning.    Even though I didn’t bake a turkey, we still had one Thanksgiving day…..We ate with my Mom and three of my sisters and their family.    We had a wonderful day and spent as much time laughing as we did eating.   Okay, that’s probably a lie.   We ate a lot!!!!

       Now that we have one holiday behind us, it’s time to move on to the next…..Christmas!    Apparently the weatherman has decided it’s time to let the Thanksgiving season go too as cold weather is in the forecast.    The perfect time to start a fire in the fireplace, remove all the Fall decorations and replace them with our Christmas things.

     Before I do that though, I wanted to take you on our walk through our little cabin all decorated for the Fall season.     Are you ready?   Grab your coat & a hot drink as it’s getting chilly out there.

      Okay, let’s walk through the front door.        How do you like my chair?    It’s the perfect place to curl up with a good book or your favorite stitching project.    And that second chair with little foot stool is just perfect to invite a friend to stitch or hook with you.

       Now if it’s cold, we can start a fire in the fireplace.   Okay, maybe we be better do a ‘pretend’ fire.    We don’t want to burn the place down! HA

       If we get tired of stitching, we can always set on the sofa and watch a movie.   Or if we get really bored we can open one of my many cupboards and go through recipe books.    

     No matter what we do, I’m sure we’ll have a good time.    I mean, how can you help but have fun when your with a good friend?     

     Okay, it’s time to drag out the Christmas decorations.   Grab your coat and let’s go back to the ‘big house’.    Your welcome to stay but if you do have to run (I know…We’re both a little late for all the Black Friday specials!) I understand you can can come back any ole time you want.

     I hope you’ve had a Blessed Thanksgiving and have had a lot to be thankful for.   Heck, just have you as a friend is Blessings enough for me.    Hugs, Sher

~~What A Day!!~~

     I know I promised to share pictures of the cabin the next time I posted but have you ever had one of those days that you just had to put down in writing so you wouldn’t forget it? Or maybe I want it in writing to make sure I never do anything so dumb again!  Trust me, yesterday was one of those days for me.

    It all started out so innocent.   A perfectly normal day….Fighting with the little ones to get up and get around for school.   Making sure everyone had breakfast and all school books were in one spot.   Then things started to change.   Not just change, I mean it was like a ball rolling downhill. 

    First, I went to the basement to get  meat out of the deepfreeze for supper and to bring up a gallon of milk from our second refrigerator.    Since I’m old & hate to make those stairs, I decided to bring up some other things I was needing at the same time.   That was my first mistake of the day.   With hands full, I reached for a can from our storage unit and dropped the milk.   That plastic bottle shattered like a glass on concrete and in slow motion I watched one gallon of milk flow over that basement floor.  I was in such shock I just watched it running like a river over rocks.   By the time I came to my senses I had milk everywhere!!!!

      I flew up those stairs (Yes by this time who cared about a few stairs!) to grab the mop and a bucket.   Before that could happen, Keith yelled that the garbage cans (Which sit down at the end or our drive on a very busy highway) were gone….The wind had blown them onto the highway!  I just stood there no knowing which way to go.    Did I clean up milk that was making it’s way to our furnace  or run after garbage cans that could cause a wreck?   Thankfully Keith had gotten dressed and said he’s go after the cans.   It was back to the basement for me.

     This weekend is our monthly family get-together and being the smart stupid person I am, I decided this would be a good time to do a little fall cleaning.   Now in case there are any other smart stupid people like me, let me issue a warning here….DO NOT clean a super tiny bathroom with more than one chemical cleaner at a time.  I almost gassed myself to death.    Yes, I have a clean shower floor but no lungs!

     Thanks to my morning ‘milk spill’ I had no milk for our supper.    So, I got really creative and planned a meal around the lack of it.   Since Drew wouldn’t be having the mashed potatoes I had told him he was having, I decided to try a new recipe for a chocolate popcorn for our dessert.    Now this is where my day really took a nose-dive.

     The recipe called for Kettle Corn and staying in tune with the rest of my day, I burnt the first batch.   While the second one was popping, I turned on the oven and started making the sauce.    Suddenly the house was filled with aroma of sweet, gooey goodness.    Being the smart stupid person that I am, I’m thinking this has to be the most wonderful sauce ever to smell so good.   The only thing I couldn’t figure out was why it didn’t smell like chocolate since there was so much chocolate in it.   It was then I opened my oven door.   Inside, puffed up and dripping down from the rack to the oven bottom was a large bag of what had once had been marshmallows!  Yes, one of my darling family members (Okay, maybe it was me!) had stuck a bag of marshmallows in the oven to get it off the counter.    If you haven’t seen what marshmallows and the plastic bag they come in look like melted, just take my word for it….It’s not a pretty sight!!!!

   Of course I screamed and that started a whole new set of problems. ~~~~ Drew’s cat Stormy decided she’d better check out the commotion so she comes running in.     By this time I had pulled out the whole rack (Dripping, hot, gooey marshmallows with every move.) and then stood there no knowing which way to turn.  

      I finally decided the trash can would be my best bet.   If I haven’t lost you by now, keep reading…….. Imagine one fat woman, holding a hot baking rack, dripping hot, sticky marshmallows over a trash can and a large gray cat reaching to pull those very same marshmallows off.  (And we all wondered where the saying, “Curiosity killed the cat” came from!!!)   Of course I’m still screaming only this time I’m trying to kick the cat away from the hot marshmallows.  I didn’t make it.    She dipped both front paws in and then calmly laid down and started licking her prize from her feet.   Yes, she’s enjoying herself and I’m going nuts.

      If you’ve never cleaned hard (Yes, they harden once melted) marshmallows and hard plastic from your oven racks you might want to take my advice and not try it.  It’s not a fun adventure.

     By the time night came I was more than ready to climb into bed and be thankful the whole day was over.   I’m sure each time I turn on the oven these next few weeks I’ll be greeted by the smell of warm marshmallows.   Heck, maybe the day wasn’t so bad after all.    Hugs, Sher

~~ Finally…Fall ~~

     For several weeks now the signs of Fall have been coming to Old Crow Farm.    Gone are the super long, hot days of Summer.   In their place are cooler, shorter days.   Days when you can walk out the door and actually not have your breath taken away.   No longer is the grass bright green.   It’s been replaced with dry, brown earth.   The trees are doing their magic, turning once green leaves to shades of gold, brown, red, yellow and orange.   Fall, you’ve got to love it.

      Long before we actually saw or felt these changes, I was starting to make some changes of my own.    It seemed as if every rug I hooked had a pumpkin or two in it.    I made Keith dig out my “Fall Tote” (He had to do the digging because he had moved it from it where I normally keep it!) and that’s when the real fun started.   

   Each year I add a little something new to my Fall collection so I have tons of things to work with.   Some of the old favorites are left in the bottom of the tote to be replaced with new, others are set out first.   Within hours my “Americana themed” house is transformed with touches of orange.

     Since we’ll be hosting the Halloween party for my side of the family in a few weeks, I’ve gone all out in decorating the outside of our place too.   I started with our tiny little front porch.    I made Keith haul an old primitive table (Which is much to big for that tiny space.) out of his shed and together we some how got it fitted in.     When everyone is here I’ll lay a Fall themed rug on it but for now this is how it looks…..

[The rug will be between the large pumpkin in the wire basket and the small pumpkin in the old metal bucket.]   I haven’t taken a picture of it yet but to the left of the big pumpkin, there’s a an old wooden piece Keith made sixteen years ago hanging.   From it I’ve hung an old ratty broom and a skeleton.      See, I told you I was taking this Fall decorating seriously! HA

      Not to leave any stone unturned, I next moved on to our little bus stop house.  (Which looks more like an outhouse! HA)   I normally decorate with mums out there but this year I decided not to waste my money.   Instead I went with small pumpkins and some hay.   I love the look….Simple & cheap!   In my next post I’ll tell you how I’ve decorated our little cabin for the season.

     The change in our season has also brought some changes to me.   Maybe it’s because I’m getting older or maybe it’s because I’ve suddenly realized I’m never going to accomplish everything I want to do in my life.    Whatever, I’ve decided to start using my time more wisely.   No longer do I spend hours online reading what everyone has been up to.  No longer do I rush to ‘do it all’.   I now have set aside time to do all that’s important to me.   Oh, I’ll never give up my favorite blogs…But they are now checked within the first few hours of my day.   But once that’s been done, I quickly move on to the things that really matter….My family, my home and my many hobbies.   Not only has it made me a much happier person but it’s made my family feel the same way.   The house is clean, there’s wonderful meals on the table, yummy desserts waiting to be ate and I’m smiling because I’ve actually done something FUN that day.    Does it get any better than that????

      So join me on this new journey and let’s see how much I can get accomplished before the snow starts to fall.    Hugs, Sher 

     

     

~~Getting Ready For Fall~~

    Well, this is the day we have been waiting for....The little ones go back to school. It's such a mixed feeling day. I'm definitely not ready for them to be gone all day long but these past few weeks they've became restless so I know they are ready to be back among their friends. Do you remember what that feeling was like? You couldn't wait to see what your friends had been doing all summer and to catch up on the latest gossip. Two days later and you were ready for the weekend so you could be away from everyone! HA



   Of course having the kids gone all day long has it's advantages....I get to have Keith all to myself. Normally when the kids start back to school we have a 'date'. We go out for a special lunch and then hit all the flea markets. This year things will be different. Drew had a dental appointment yesterday in Lawrence and since we were so close to Topeka, we decided to swing by and do our monthly Sam's Club run. Since Keith's surgeries every little thing wears him out so there is no way we can run two days in a row. So, instead of an outing, we'll be heading to town for a light lunch and a visit to the library. Exciting times! HA Actually, they sound pretty good to me. That means I'll have the majority of the day to work on fun things around the house.


     The weather in Kansas has finally started to cool off. Okay, truthfully they say the heat will be returning over the next couple of days but this past week has been wonderful. For the first time in months there is the hope that Fall is right around the corner. I'm so excited!!!! Not only is it my favorite time of year weather wise but it's also my favorite time of year to decorate. It seems I'm not alone in my feelings either...The blogs & magazine are all full of the colors of Fall. Naturally I've been pouring over all of them and making list of the things I want to make for my house.


     And speaking of fall........The kids will start their first full week of school Monday and that's when I'll start giving this ole house the evil eye and be deciding how it's going to be decorated. I can't wait for the earthy colors to come out. They can't help but make me feel cooler and the days more crisp. (Okay, that's what I'm telling myself.) I have so many plans and naturally most of them include the color orange, rust, brown, deep reds and gold. Time will tell if they all make it into the house.


     And it's just not the inside of the house we'll be decorating but the outside too. Tiny though our front porch is, I have some ideas of bring it into the season. From there I'm moving on to the cabin and giving it a make-over. I guess you can tell I really am excited to get everything started. HA


     On my list of things to make & do are rugs, rugs and more rugs! HA I just finished a wonderful rug pattern {"Five Pumpkins"} by Judy Cripps of Rustic Rugs. I did my border a little different than she did hers (Okay, let's be honest here...I couldn't get the border to hook up as neatly as she did...My fault, not the patterns.) but I still love it. In fact, everyone who comes in my house goes on & on about it. So, if your a rug hooker, give Judy a call and order that pattern. It's definitely a winner. I'm now working on another pumpkin rug and hope to have it ready to show early next week.



    Well I could ramble on for hours but it's time to run to town and then the fun begins....I'm gonna spend my afternoon hooking. I hope your all enjoying cooler temperatures and thinking thoughts of Fall. Until later......Blessings from Old Crow Farm & Sher