Sunflowers

 

A local 4-H club plants sunflowers as a fundraiser.  They open the fields and ask that if you use it you make a donation to their club.   If you want to pick a flower, they ask that you make another donation to their club. I love this fundraiser!  Such a great idea!   I happily made a donation to their club and in exchange, we attempted to take some senior pictures of Quincy.  Since we were going anyway, I drug along the girls and Madison met us there with her girls.  

Quincy is a reluctant participant in the senior photos thing.  She sort of wants it done, but also doesn’t.  But also has some ideas of what she wants them to be.  I like her ideas, but i also sort of wanted some pretty pictures of her as well.  She agreed to letting us take a few in the sunflowers.   Now I must add in that Quincy had to work last night.  Her job at the nursing home has been a little rough lately.  They are short staffed, and she has been getting off late almost every shift.  So when we thought she would be home, she was still working.  We picked her out a cute outfit from her room, and instructed her to meet at Mallory’s.  She got off work, hated the outfit we picked, didn’t have time to do much to her hair, wasn’t wearing mascara, didn’t feel well because she has a cold, and was exhausted from going to school and work.  She wasn’t in the finest of moods.  Mallory basically has a way of saying suck it up and let’s do this.  Mallory took a lot of photos, took some of Evie and Wrenley, and had us out of there before dark!   You can tell she’s a teacher.  Haha!  

There was a lady there who was acting like she was having a professional photo shoot, but it was all selfies she was taking.   Harper told me it was “cringe” so I had to do a little reenactment just for Harper.  I’m serious when I say Harper is silent but deadly.  Her perception of the world is funny- and although I probably shouldn’t, I find myself laughing at her perceptions a lot!  

Mallory took a lot of good photos, and even though Q doesn’t love this one, I think it is my favorite.   Why?  Because that is Quincy’s natural smile.  The one she gives is when she’s happy, or has good news, or is being a pain in the a$$.  I’m happy Mall captured it for my wall. 

When I was a kid, my grandfather always talked about how much he hated sunflowers.  When he died, my grandma was adamant that no yellow flowers of any kind be put in his coffin spray.  Considering how we had to continually cut them out of places they grew that were a pain (fence lines, around water troughs, around barn doors, etc) I know why he had the feelings he did.  And honesty, the Kansas sunflower is a weed!   I will always have a weird fascination for them though.  I like how they grow up in weird places and add beauty to the roadsides in the time of the year that most things are starting to die.  I like how they smell like home and fall and are sort of disgusting smelling, but yet make you feel nostalgic at the same time.   And I absolutely LOVE fields of bright, cheerful sunflowers.   Every time I see one I want to stop and take pictures.  Every time I stop and take pictures, my children groan and tell me I am a dork.  I will never care how dumb they think it is, there’s just something about them.  So pretty.  So cheerful.  So amazing to see them all facing in one direction.   

And who doesn’t look beautiful standing in a field of these?  

Thank you Mallory for these amazing pictures. And thank you Quincy, for indulging your momma.  

One more thing, my Quincy girl- she’s always been a handful.  She’s stubborn, outspoken, likes what she likes and hates what she doesn’t, and has single handedly given me half the gray hairs on my head.   She is also stunningly beautiful, amazingly smart, intensely driven, and possesses amazing levels of creativity which she hasn’t even begun to tap into yet.  She has grown up so much in the last year!  She is no longer getting in constant trouble at school, her grades are amazing, and she is taking college level classes.  She works 7 days a week at 3 different jobs, and still finds time to hang out with her sisters.  I love her like crazy - and am definitely not ready to embrace her senior year yet - the sadness of Preston being out of the house is still too fresh.  Poor Jim is going to have a huge mess drying all my tears this year I think.  I’m not ready!  

Stuff that makes me happy

Today was a little bit rough (bus kids are learning  slowly that this woman don’t play).  My main job is not going the way I had hoped on a few projects, (mostly because the wheels of the government are gummed up with bovine excrement), and my main man is also having a crazy day so we didn’t get to have lunch and he is having to work late.  I need him to insert logic into my chaos!   So, rather than utilizing my employee discount at the liquor store, I am focusing on some things from lately that have made me feel incredibly happy.  (My life is overall a happy one, and I’m focusing my energy on keeping it that way)!  

Grandkids.  I always knew I wanted to be a grammy.  I am a little surprised at how fast we arrived here.  These 2 little girls make my world go round.  They are funny, sweet, smart, beautiful girls!   Evie and Wrenley - two of the best gifts ever!   I can’t wait to add more grandkids and have a whole yard full of fun!   I am so thankful for them!  Jim and I are both completely smitten.  

Kansas sunsets.  Especially late summer/early fall ones.  I had a leaders meeting for 4-H last night.  I snapped these photos on the way home (thankfully I live in the country where stopping to take photos doesn’t get you into an accident!). 

This man. He works incredibly hard.  He spends so much time helping people, making sure things are done correctly, and looking out for my hometown. I am so proud of him. The best part?  He is also an amazing dad and husband.  I’m so happy i spent time at karaoke night 30 some years ago.  No doubt my amazing singing voice reeled in the big guy.  Side note - if I thought he was a good dad- I hadn’t seen anything yet.  There is a 4 year old and a 2 month old who completely own this man.  It’s adorable.  

Ponies and pools are also my happy place.  Are they necessary?  Nope!   Do I care?  Nope.  The pony is a tiny bit of a jerk.  He’s a Shetland.  It’s just who he is- but he owns it and he never really does anything truly bad - he’s just a little rough around the edges.  And he’s mine.  I always wanted a horse I could have just because.  Not because I wanted a work animal, not because I wanted to show him. Just because I truly love horses (sorry Larry- I know he’s useless!).  Little horses are the most useless of the horse family- but I truly don’t care!   And the pool.  I have used it almost daily since May.  I like to exercise in there, I like to lay under the sky in there, I love soaking up some sunshine and vitamin D, and I like to hang out with my kids in there.  It is a little oasis in my life and I honesty wish I could use it all year long.  Jim may not understand my infatuation, but he does support it - I even saw him searching for pool heaters.  

My life’s greatest accomplishment is my children. They are all such amazing people.  Do I ever shake my head at the weirdness they bring?  Absolutely!   But I love how they love each other.  And I love how each one is different with different attitudes and beliefs and feelings.  And I love that as they have grown, they have shown me what success looks like, what they are capable of, and they are all such hard working people.  I’m so proud of them all, so pleased that Jim was willing to create a large family, and was active in helping with them all.  And I also want to say that so far, we have 3 of the most incredible partners for our adult children. Andrew works his bits off keeping his girls taken care of, and then turns around on weekends and helps us around here with any project we have.  Always happy to help.  He also insures that his bestie (Jim) gets out of the house to do a little fishing several times a month.  Jim needs this!   

Spencer is amazingly smart and sweet.  She has been so helpful with her knowledge of the ins and outs of the engineering program at KSU.  Her patience with us as we learn stuff to help Preston has been invaluable.  I love seeing Colin and her planning their future.  

Lauren has the biggest heart - and a great gift of communication.  She keeps Cameron supervised, is amazing about letting us know what is going on with them, and is so open about her thoughts and feelings.  

We just couldn’t be any luckier in the children  “in-law” department.   

I feel so much better now.  Blocking out the insane parts of my day and focusing only on my blessings works wonders.  

Weekend fun

When we started this weekend out, we had only moderate plans.    We knew Preston was coming home to visit his friend John before he ships out with the Marines on Monday.  We knew I had a Saturday shift at the liquor store.  And I was planning to visit Colin and Spencer.  

We did not really plan Friday evening watching the girls while Madison and Andrew ran to Topeka.  We did not really plan for Andrew and Preston to spend most of their day Saturday working on Quincy’s car.  We did not plan for a spontaneous fishing trip.  Weekends are not planned, they are made, right?   

We enjoyed our evening with the girls.  Evelyn was overjoyed when Preston walked through the front door.  She lunged at him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and said Uncle PP!!! You came back!   It was the sweetest. 

Andrew was on a mission to catch some crappie.  I was told her caught a couple, but Jim was most excited about catching his first ever gar!  He came home all bloody - I asked if it was fish blood or his blood.  It was his.  Apparently gar use their teeth and hate it when you take the hooks out!   My husband has a list of fish he hasn’t caught, I think he was elated at checking another one off the list!   

I mentioned how hot it was last week.  When the girls and I went out to do morning chores on Saturday, we were thrilled to find it was almost cold!   We ended up cleaning some stuff, hanging out with the critters, letting the pony and goats out to graze the yard, and working on a few things around the yard.  It was nice to be outside without sweating your eyeballs out!   

Coco has been on a diet this summer.  He has slimmed down considerably.   The farrier was very pleased.  He is now allowed a couple hours of grazing time a few days a week.  He was so happy about it!   

We took the wild goat to the auction.  That leaves us with 3.  The two white ones are does we will breed next year.  Of course, the brown one is Mr. Mackey. These 3 were all bottle babies, and all 3 don’t know they are goats.  They come like dogs when you call them, follow you anywhere, and are sweet little babies.  I’m happy they are staying here!  

This is Chlamydia.   She was found dumped at the same time as Marge.  I truly believe they are litter mates.  Clem is a good cat, but is extremely loud.  She loves to sit on top of the feed shed and yowl.  

I noticed tons of beautiful blooms on the pumpkins and watermelon.  Still keeping my fingers crossed there is enough time to grow some watermelon we can eat!   The plant has a few tennis ball size melons!  

Andrew and Preston attempted to fix Quincy’s car this weekend.  We believe the transmission is going out. They tried hard, but we will be needing to make some painful decisions in the next week or so I am afraid.  

While they were working on the car, poppy and Evelyn got quite a lot of mowing finished.  Evie was so happy about getting to drive the mower!  

I enjoyed hanging out with little miss loves to eat. I was sad when it was time to hand the baby over and go hang out in liquor world.  I have a love/hate with this job.  I hate leaving home and giving up weekend time.   I do however, enjoy working there.  I always see lots of people I haven’t seen for a long time.  I like visiting with the customers.  I enjoy faking advice about what wines to pair with foods (I hate wine and have no idea what I’m talking about).  I admit to recommending the wines that I think have the funniest names.  Sweet bitch?  Yea!  You want that one.  Freak show?  Absolutely amazing with steaks.  Criminal intent?  Oh yes- that one is great with Italian  food.  It’s a fun little side gig.  

Today, Preston headed back to Manhattan. He had a couple of homework assignments he wanted to get done and he didn’t pack enough clothing!  Mallory and I made a quick trip to visit Colin and Spencer.  I hadn’t had a chance to see the work they have been doing on their house!  It looks so good!   Spencer also asked Mallory to be a bride’s maid in the wedding!  There is still not a date set though.  Colin took us to look for shoes for another wedding that Mallory is in. We weren’t successful at finding the shoes, but we did get to ride in the “fun car!”   Colin is the only person I know who changes his tires so he can run some errands!

Mallory also got to take a spin on the tandem. Bike.  I’m not sure she enjoyed it though.  

I am sad that this fun weekend went slamming by.  I am sad I didn’t get to do all of the errands, chores, and projects I had in my list, but I’m super happy that I had all sorts of time with some of the kids.  

What is going on here?

 

We might be cooking to death that's what! The record-breaking heat has continued all week.  We have been given coolers to haul water, ice, new water bottles and the school has been begging parents to pick up kids if at all possible.  My route parents have been amazing, and my afternoons have been blessedly short.   Day 5 - driving a brand-new bus, when the electrical system decided to fry, the door decided to not work, and I had to get a different (also brand new) bus.  I hope that this time works out a little better.  Things about buses I never understand - 

 they are top of the line on safety, things can hit them, and they won't even dent.  They put a lot of thought into how to keep children safe, and that is amazing and appreciated.  And they are expensive!  A new bus can cost $150-200,000.  This is the second time in my "career" that I have been handed a brand-new bus to drive.  It is also the second time where I have said "what the heck is going on?"  They are junk.  The windows don't stay up, the seals come already broken for keeping the doors closed tightly, the door doesn't close correctly, you drive down the road and screws pop out of the ceiling, and the list goes on.  I had to turn my bus in yesterday, they pulled it in the shop and said they were sending it back to the place we bought it for extensive repairs.  It has 1500 miles on it!  If I bought this as a personal vehicle, I would be turning it into the Kansas Lemon Law complaint line.  I just find it interesting, and I am thankful that I don't have to pay for the repairs!  I literally did not do anything to it, I was just driving down the road and it imploded.  I had noticed a few little "quirks" and had already reported them to the boss.  I am sure he is frustrated as well.  

Evie has to eat lunch at my office this year.  Madison has been packing her a lunch, and she is sooooo excited to eat it!  She loves carrying her lunchbox, and she loves eating the lunches Madison packs.  I told Jim if I am ever in a place where I need to pack a lunch, I hope that Madison can be the person to pack it for me.  That girl packs a serious lunch!  

I get a kick out of the new cat - she sleeps with Jerry and covers her eyes!  It makes me laugh.  We are having some issues training her.  I think I understand why someone kicked her out of their house!  She is a bit of psycho!  She likes to chase any flies, moths or anything that moves - she will chase them right up the screens.  I don't like to punish her harshly because I feel like she has been mistreated, and she is finally starting to trust us, but dang it, you cannot climb my screens.  She is also commonly found on the kitchen counters, which is a thing I absolutely cannot stand.  Jerry is bad about it as well.  We may be trying the old mouse trap trick with both of them.  Other than those two things, she is a good addition to the house, Jerry loves her, and she had definitely figured out how to con Jim out of people food!  

Madison sent me this hilarious photo this morning of Wrenley.  I felt this one in my soul.  Hoping for a break from the extreme heat, and maybe a little less weirdness!  :)  

J