Apple day

Evie spent the night with her grandma Rachel.  She also spent the day there today.   That meant Madison was home with just the baby and was bored, so they came over to help me with the rest of the 2 bushels of apples I got from a friend at church.  Aunt Mal came out too, because she is a baby hog!  

We got quite a lot done, and I finished them after dinner.  I managed to get 5 quarts of apple butter for my freezer, and some for Madison  and  Andrew, 5 quarts of applesauce, and 15 quarts of sliced apples for pies and baking this winter.   Madison got 4 quarts for her freezer, but Mallory said she didn’t want any (I’m sure if she changes her mind she will just rob my freezer!). I also made 3 apple brown betty’s and sent home some with Mallory and Madison!   Sooo many apples!  I am excited about having them in the freezer, but even more excited  that this project is done.  

Also thanks to Madison, Mallory and Wrenley for all their help!  Baby help is the best.  I could never feel guilty about taking a break if I am holding a baby right?  

Several months ago, Quincy came home from shopping with friends and asked me to teach her to crochet.  My crocheting skills are pretty basic, but I showed her a thing or 2.  She then sort of put it down, and I hadn’t heard much about her crocheting career in a long time.  Today, I came home from work and she was watching a YouTube video and learning to crochet a hat.  You really can learn anything on YouTube!  I have to say I am impressed.  

As an added bonus, a woman gave the 4-H several skeins of yarn for anyone who wanted to learn to crochet (or knit).  The only one interested was Quincy, so this hat cost zero dollars!   

Quincy also made a tough decision this week, as she changed her mind about attending vo- tech this fall. She has some new ideas that she’s wanting to steer towards, with bigger career aspirations.  It was a hard decision, she took it seriously, and we are proud of her.  Watching these kids grow up is both difficult and amazing.  

I heard from Colin this week, he was excitedly driving  to KC on storm call.  The storms last Friday left everything In a pretty big mess!   I appreciate his willingness to travel and help!  Have I mentioned that I 100% love the grid?  I enjoyed visiting with Cameron and Lauren this evening.  They always have some entertaining stories to tell me and make me laugh.  I’m so proud of all of these kids.  I am truly blessed with all the good ones.  

We did a thing….

A month or so ago, I went in search of some barn cats.   As you know, we ended up bringing home 3 little 8 week old kittens, as well as 2 calico cats that look almost identical.  Marge lives inside, the others were supposed to be barn cats.  We need these kitties to be wild, as that helps them stay alive outside.  Except one was not wild.  He was the cutest little kitty.  My girls were absolutely smitten.  They named this little orange thing Ponyo.  He follows me everywhere.  When we are in the pool, he’s on the deck.  When I take my morning walk, he’s on my heels, barbecuing some chicken, under my feet.   He also has no sense about the vehicles being dangerous. The other 2 run when you start a car.  Ponyo- nope. Just sits there like a common idiot.  As evidenced by his actions this morning.  I was at my office.  As I am sitting there, my door cracks open and a woman we know said ummm Hope?  This cat just dropped down from the engine of your car!   She hands me none other than Ponyo.  Seriously?  You idiot cat!   He was unharmed on this little adventure!   Preston and Quincy needed to come to town for something, so they took him from my office back home.  Quincy was begging me to “please just let him live inside?!? Since we recently adopted the window well cat, I had said no.  But then I picked  Jim up to go home for lunch, and on the way he said “it’s too late Hope - the girls are attached and if we leave him out he will die….he’s gonna have to be a house cat now.”   The girls had to promise to clean up the litter boxes, clean up any messes he might make, and understand that he must get fixed as soon as possible.  But now we have 3 house cats.   (Side note- I am fully aware that when Mr. Softie said the girls were attached, he meant to say “I am attached!”)

The girls are denying it, but it is my belief that this cat has already been partially living inIde.  For one thing, he already knew where the litter was located, where the food bowl is, and seemed very at ease, even when Marge was checking him out! Considering that Marge also seemed comfortable around him and I’m just going to guess that we had an unauthorized visitor long before today.  Today, he became an official member of the house.   

He’s a super sweet boy!   

Still laughing at Woody for guzzling down the hummingbird water.  Earlier Mallory was here - we were laughing about his sugar addiction- and since I put out a bucket of fresh water I am sure he’s a sugar junkie.  It makes me smile.  Silly woodpecker.  

Overly productive

Today, we had a long list of things to do.  Mowing, burning some stuff, I had a meeting to set up the township budget, normal junk.  

I finished my meeting, finished work, ran some errands and came home for lunch.  Preston was mowing. I attempted to help with some burning. I was getting really frustrated with the fact that I couldn’t get it to burn well, when Mallory showed up.  She told me she had started to go to Madison’s to see the girls, but Madison told her she was on her way here.  Within 10 minutes, Madison and the girls showed up!   I live for hilarious Evelyn time and impromptu baby snuggles - my fav!   

Evie wanted to swim.  I told her I would go with her, as I was giving up my pyromania attempts.  We started for the house when I realized it was thundering.  We never got a drop of rain, but also could not take the chance of swimming.   Evelyn still had fun playing with aunt Saige and aunt Harper.  I had fun playing with the baby. It was such a happy surprise.  

The girls left and I cooked a nice dinner and then turned my attention towards the fact that my turtle filter was barely moving any water.   For some completely idiotic reason, I decided to not only tear the entire filtration system apart and  clean it (including the hoses) but also decided to siphon the entire tank dry , clean everything and then refill it with fresh water.  Two hours later, I was cussing my decisions.  I did get it all done, but the turtles were ticked because they spent 2 hours being contained in the tub.  I now smell like smoke, turtle dung, sweat and some avocado/tomato salad dressing I made and then somehow ended up wearing,  as I am a sloppy cook.   Shower is necessary before bed.  I am currently waiting for Quincy to get home so we can discuss a few things pertinent to tomorrow.   I swear, if I ever went to bed early or even on time, or was ever functioning on a full amount of sleep I would probably go into shock.  

The good news is that Jim and I will both be retiring after tomorrow’s power ball drawing.   Maybe I can hire help for my lists!   ;)

Whooder whaty what

We are from Kansas, so undoubtedly we all watched the Wizard of Oz movie during our childhoods right?   Remember when Dorothy threw the bucket of water on the wicked witch and she screamed out “I’m mellting…..mellltinggg!  Ohhhh my beautiful wickedness!”   Maybe that’s not an exact quote- but that’s how I feel about the weekend.  It all just melted into a puddle on the floor and I couldn’t stop it, could not eek anything else out if it, was not ready for it, and certainly needed more time to be wicked.   Or something.  

Not that it was a wicked weekend.  Or anything bad happened, or that we had anything really exciting to do.  Just felt like a bucket of water got thrown and…. poof it was gone!  

But Hope….ball season is over so you’ve reclaimed your weekends and evenings - much more time for productivity right?   Please see above.   

We did get a few things accomplished.  

For one thing, we hadn’t been grocery shopping in a very long time.  Jim and I managed to run our errands, get groceries, have a little lunch, make it home and unload before I had to work a shift in liquor world.  As we were pulling in the driveway, my phone said i had missed a call from Andrew.  We called him and Evie answered.   “Hi grammy!  Do you want me?”   Ummmm I always want you dear child, but I have to work tonight!   Poppy took over the conversation at that point.  He and the girls would just have a fun evening with Evie, and to bring her right over.   When I got home, the child was exhausted, poppy was in bed, Quincy was giving her a bath, it was 10:30 and when she saw me she burst into tears.  She wanted daddy!   I told her - Well, I don’t want to drive to Carbondale, so let’s watch some tv together and  we will see daddy tomorrow!   She said ok!   She was out in no time.  I guess they swam for about 2 hours and then played in the yard chasing kittens and jumping on the trampoline.   She was just done.  She reminds me a lot if Quincy at that age….. 2 speeds - high and off!   

We took Evelyn to church.  Poppy and Andrew went fishing. Jim and Preston helped Mallory get a new washer and dryer.  A friend gave me 2 bushels of apples.  Madison came over to help me put them up.  We didn’t even come close to getting done, but we did make apple butter for both houses!   We got sidetracked when Garrett and Bailey stopped by with Lawson.  It was nice visiting with them.  We had Sunday dinner and then swam with Evie.  

Evie had a lot of questions today.  A whole lot.   Some were about why Jesus and his parents wore dresses.  I explained that was just how people dressed way back then.   And I told her I thought they were robes or tunics  not dresses.  She informed me she has a unicorn robe!   When she got out of the pool, she wanted her towel to hook around her neck so she could wear a robe like Jesus!  Then she asked me about 299 more questions about everything under the sun.  She is seriously so smart, and absorbs all the things we tell her like a sponge!  

We got dressed and got a snack.  I pried the baby away from aunt Mal (the baby hog) and I saw that Evie was passed out- mid cookie!   No tired like weekend at Grammy and Popoy tired!  

I did get to snuggle Wrenley.  She is so cute.  She had her eyes wide open and was giving all the looks today!!

Lauren sent me this adorable photo of Cameron taking her out to a nice dinner.  From the looks of it, Cameron is taking Colin up on his bet that he can’t go the rest of the time until he graduates without getting a hair cut!   Looking a bit like grizzly Adams there Cameron!   

Remember the cat that we found in Mallory’s window well a couple weeks back?   Well nobody claimed her.  She has settled in pretty nicely, and now, I see that she has even wormed her way into Jerry’s good graces.  They have been found napping together a few times now.  So cute.  She’s still very skittish,  however, I got a good laugh out of her and Jerry waiting outside the bedroom door while Jim was getting ready for work. She already knows when he comes out, he will cook his breakfast and share a sausage link or 2 with all of the critters.   He is reliable for a hot breakfast.   

Ok! that is enough twists and turns for one weekend update post.  The point was it is over, I am sad about it, and there’s not a thing that can be done!  New week, new weekend to look forward to!  

Pool day turned into storm day

While I was at work this morning,Evie texted to ask it she could come over to swim after lunch.  I told her we would love to have a pool day!   We got in the water, just got the music going, were having lots of fun, when I thought I heard thunder….but we live not far from Forbes so I wasn’t sure as sometimes I hear what I think is thunder but it is airplane noise.  It was sunny, but due to the trees we can’t see out across the prairie.   We swam about 2-3 more minutes when my phone went off to say there was a severe thunderstorm warning for our area.  Out we went.  Evie was sad, but luckily I had stopped off for snacks on the way home, so getting out wasn’t quite as sad.   

We were getting dressed when a pretty large storm blew up, and the power went out.  Luckily the national weather Mallory was rapid fire texting us updates to keep us informed.   Tornado warning at Tecumseh.  That is too close  for comfort.  We sat in the semi-dark and rocked a sweet baby.   The UPS man delivered a package. I offered to let him wait the storm out so he had access to a basement but he laughed at me.  Tecumseh is like 10 miles away. I was completely serious.   Luckily we just had some wind, vicious lightening and rain.  I was happy to see rain, as my tomatoes needed it!  

Snuggling this sweet girl never gets old!   I told Evie when she was a baby I cried and cried leaving her in Arizona.  She got all sad and very dramatically said “whyyy Grammy?  Why would you leave me there?”   She makes me smile.  I’m so glad I don’t have to leave her!   

If you read this blog you know I jump around a lot, and fill it with randomness.  This morning, I happened to see my friend the red headed woodpecker I have named “Woody” sitting on the deck, I assumed he was waiting for his breakfast, but then I realized he was sitting there sucking down the hummingbird water!  I watched a long time - he drank a lot!   I refilled it and hope he feels free to feed his sugar addition anytime!   This is the same woodpecker (I assume) that Jim and I sat one day and watched pick all the sunflowers out of the bird seed and then he would hop over and stuff them in the banister rail where there were some natural wood holes.   I think he was hiding them from the other birds!   Little glutton.  

Mallory took some photos of the girls.  She is so talented. There is something about this one.  I’m framing it.  

I let the girls get some barn kitties.  This one is named Ponyo.  He is so sweet. He helps me every morning open the pool and get the filters going.  He also sneaks into the house every chance he gets.  He’s not good at being a barn cat.  

I wasn’t the only one who got in baby snuggles today!  Mallory got to watch sweet baby Lawson!   If we busy her up with a different baby, I don’t have to share.  This was a good thing.  

Lauren and Cameron sent me this picture of a tiny lizard.  It is a cute one!

The weekend is going to be filled with simply catching up.   We are behind on everything.  Paperwork, cleaning, grocery getting, following up on a few issues, and laundry.  The laundry issue here is real!  Summer is a time I usually do better, because I constantly have to wash ball uniforms and I HATE when people don’t do full loads.   Since I’m constantly washing uniforms, I keep on top of it. Until the season ends.  Let’s just say that the piles are not pretty.  I also have to work a little bit.  It is not what I’d like to do with days “off” but it’s what I’m going to get to do!  

Ovaaaaa

Harper’s team finished their season tonight in 4th place.  They did not have one of their better games, but it was so hot tonight I think they were all just hot and tired.  Or maybe I’m just speaking about myself.   

Harper played well, scoring a couple of runs. The bottom line is that they just didn’t execute well.  It’s hard to win a game when the other team gets a home run off of overthrows.  I do think that Harper had fun this summer and I’m glad she had the opportunity to play, I am super proud of her for being patient, working hard, and keeping a good attitude all summer.   I appreciate her coaches, who have dedicated a lot of time to these kids.  

Evelyn asked if she could come over to swim this afternoon.  We spent some time in the pool, but I told her I had to get out so I could go to the ballpark.  She was all about it, asking if she could please go with me.  Since the game was in Carbondale, I told her I would pick her up on my way!   She was really good, staying right with me the whole evening. It did cost me about  $75 in concessions, but it was totally worth it to have someone to keep me company during the game!  

We were happy to get in some baby snuggles today.  This little one is already filing out and growing right before our eyes!   She’s so sweet!  

I did laugh at the girls asking Evie is she is a baby - she instantly went into infant mode.  She’s such a smart kid - and funny.  

With ball season officially over now, I am excited to move into evenings at home, working on some projects that have piled up, eating dinner at a normal hour, maybe eating “real” food rather than sandwiches, hotdogs and wraps, getting in the pool if I’m hot, and maybe- just maybe going to bed at a decent hour!   I love ball season, but it is exhausting.