Anniversary Time

Have a great day and another great year.

TWO years...

before you know it, TWO will be THREE.

(In more than one way :)

Congratulations.

Happy Fathers Day

There were two things that I thought I might get Ron for Fathers Day. One was a hedge trimmer- maybe something electric, that didn't require so much "elbow grease" as the clippers he already has. And something alittle better than the pair of scissors that he uses some times :) The other was a new chair for his desk. One might require alot of work and the other he could just relax in. Let's see, which one would a guy want? More work or more relaxing? Then when he paid the yard man (not the old yard man- because that was him :) but the new yard man, that he pays money for) to trim all of the bushes, he solved my problem. He was no longer in need of a hedge trimmer. (at least not for a few months) So...

Happy Fathers Day.

Now, my only problem is that most evenings, Ron is still sitting at his desk when I go to bed-- and that was with him sitting in a uncomfortable chair. Now, that he has this--he will probably never come to bed. lol

All jesting aside-- I have been counting my blessings recently for Ron and for the life that we have together. We are truly blessed and truly spoiled.
He is a great husband and father. He loves his children very much and has many reasons to be very proud of them. They give him the greatest fathers day gift each day in the way that they live their lives and treat their own families. Ron has worked very had for the past 34 years to provide very well for our family. We are very grateful for him. He is a righteous patriarch of our family and has a strong testimony of the gospel and love for his savior, Jesus Christ. What an amazing man he is- and we love him. ILYLT

PS- Here is the rest of the chair story. When I was getting ready to pay for the chair, the clerk asked me if I wanted an extended warranty on it. It would cost $19.95 and include free assembly. At first I said ,"Yes". But then I asked if I could take it with me that day. She said , "No, that it would be ready the next day". So I said, "I'll take it now, in the box." Then she said I could have the extended warranty for $7.95. Seems like, to me, that "free" assembly was going to cost me $12. :) :)

So, Ron had to put his own chair together. When I got home Friday evening- he was sitting at his desk, on the box, with the UNassembled chair still inside. lol

My plan for Monday

My plan for Monday (my day off) was to paint 3 walls of our living room. I bribed Ron, with a cherry pie on Sunday evening, to help me move some of the furniture away from the walls. I figured if I started early on Monday morning, I could have it all finished by the time he got home at 5. That was my plan- here is what really happened. I had picked out a color for the paint, but I needed to go buy a gallon of it (all I had was a sample). While I was waiting for the paint store to open, I decided to go to Michaels for a couple of home decorations. When I got there I realized that there was a Palais Royal store right next door. (of course I had to go in there) After those two stops and after getting the paint, I needed to go get the ladder, that was at my store. While I was there, and while I had the ladder out, I put new bulbs in one of the fluorescent light fixtures. I also grabbed the information I needed to do my payroll (on my laptop, which was at home) On my way back home, I stopped at WalMart. (that stop was for a hair cut- more about that later) When I got home, I grabbed a peanut butter sandwich and did my payroll. By now it was about 4 and I had not started painting yet. I decided I better start fixing dinner. Then a friend showed up, to bring over a dress for me to wash, dry and steam. So...when Ron got home about 5:30, dinner was ready, but I had not painted anything. The good part of "the plan" was that we ate dinner and then he helped me paint. (I didn't know he had that in him :) Actually, I think he was worried about me falling off of his make shift scaffolding. (the walls are higher than normal in our living room) So he stood on the board that was sitting across two benches, and painted the high part. My job was to load the roller or the flat brush with paint and hand it to him. Then I finished the bottom and the edges. The bad part of my getting distracted during the day was- my haircut didn't turn out very well. Lets just say that it doesn't take me very long to dry it- pretty short- especially in the back. Oh well, it's like the grass in the yard- it will grow back. When my friend came by at 4:30- I told her, "Don't look at what I'm wearing (ready to paint), don't look at my hair, and don't look at my messy house. lol

Here are a few pictures. You really can't see the color very well. It's kind of a light blueish, greenish. It looks alot better in person than in the pictures.

These last two pictures kind of show my new color scheme.

(The color on the wall is darker than what the picture shows)

Ron says it reminds him of blue sky. (I'm also going to use it to paint one wall of the study. But I won't get to that project for a couple of weeks)

Hey Aud...

give him an extra hug for us today!

Happy Birthday!

I don't know if Friday was good to you, but hopefully Saturday will come through for you-

have a great day.

What Ron Missed this Week

Ron has been in Alaska all week. When he is gone, mom and I don't shop, or cook. We just grab whatever there is to eat. She fixes her own and I fix my own. Then I stayed up late every night, cleaning! I recently read an article describing America as a "stuff society". We fill our homes with stuff and then wish we had a bigger home with more storage space. It's funny-- no matter how many times I go through a closet, thinking I only have the stuff that I really need- I can go through it again and still get rid of some more. I have been in a "get rid of stuff" mood for a couple of weeks now. Maybe I am just having sympathy pains for Annie. This week I pretended like we are moving and sending stuff to a garage sale. I was going to just haul everything away, then a friend put a post on FB inviting people to bring stuff to her garage sale. I hope she was serious- because I have stuff ready to go. (actually, I still need to do one more closet down stairs and then go through the garage) But...I cleaned out closets, cupboards, drawers, and boxes this week. Ron missed it all- I'm sure he is glad for that. :)

All week long, I could just leave stuff piled every where, until I could sort through it and price it.

No more clutter in the hallway closet. I could actually put some more stuff in there :)





The first time in quite awhile, to see the top of my desk- usually it's buried.

One closet has clear space on the floor. The other closet has clear space on the shelves.
(I didn't do anything with the extra clothes yet- I don't like to mess with those at the garage sale- those will just go to donation. And I haven't even touched the attic. That will have to wait for another time.)

For now...I'm STUFFed!

Happy B Day!!!

Mike has a birthday today.

So, I am just doing my "mom job" to embarrass my kids on special days.

When I found these two pictures of him and Annie, I just couldn't resist.

He knows, we love him :)

Have a great day- you deserve it.

You are a great husband and father and son and brother.

Sorry Ron...

but these all have sugar in them- Bread and Butter pickles.

I'm still working on some Dill pickles.

Look out world...he has figured out how to grow corn. Sweet corn, on the cob, is his favorite. He claimed Sunday was a great day. For dinner we had buttercup squash with wild rice, corn on the cob, green beans, and tomato/cucumber salad. Then I made apple/raspberry/strawberry/
rhubarb cobbler for dessert. Guys think its a great day, when the food is good :)

(That pile of cucumbers is what is in the jars now)

Pickles

Mom and I need to try to figure out how to make pickles on Monday. Ron has a "cutecomer" (cucumber) plant that is going crazy. I have a Bosch mixer with a slicer attachment that will do great slices, either thick or thin. I told Ron that he has to start picking the cucumbers when they are small enough to fit into the slicer :) I like sweet pickles and Ron likes sour, dill pickles- we might try both. Then I won't touch his pickles and he won't touch mine :)

He just picked these, there are more in the refrigerator and there are more on the plant.

Just a few pics. from the porch, the yard, and the garden.

When we added on the enclosed back porch, we also had them build the small shed in the back yard. Ron's above ground garden wraps around the back corners of the shed. I guess I could have just posted this last picture, without any explanation and let you think that we have corn that is taller than the house. (If you don't know that is the corner of the shed, you might think it is the corner of the house :)

Monday like Saturday

Since I work every Saturday, Ron and I never get a normal Saturday together. I am always at the store and he is usually doing yard work. So it was kind of fun to have Monday as a holiday. It was like we had a Saturday together. Ron did a few "honey dos" and some things around the yard and house. (I had asked him to change out the water in the water storage barrels and fix the tires on my bike) I went to the grocery store early before it got busy. I didn't cook breakfast (it was our normal cereal) but I did cook lunch and dinner. The green squash, that looked like a pumpkin is a buttercup squash. I cooked it. I also made a strawberry, raspberry, rhubarb pie. It turned out great. I made two attempts at trying to decide what color to paint the living room. The first one was too dark and too blue. So I tried to go lighter and greener- that wasn't good either. (I will still have to work on that.) Monday evening we went for a short walk, then hoped in the car (top down) and went to Sonic. So nothing exciting here. I guess, in some ways "boring" is good.