In The News

A couple of  stories still  coming up in the news need

our thoughts and prayers....

The missing teacher in Sidney, Montana -- Sherry Arnold's

cousin is organizing a Virtual Run on February 11th -- check

out the website here.  If you are a runner or even if you are

not please join the Virtual Run by taking part even by

saying a prayer.

I will be taking part on my treadmill - by power of prayer

people can surround the family with support during

this terrible time.  

Another story is the Costa Concordia shipwreck in Italy - a

couple from Minnesota are included in the list of missing.

The family has kept updates here - another tragic

story.  

I know neither of these families only wish to bring 

awareness and add more prayers to bring

them some closure.

Getting to Know Me - Final Set

This series is describing myself by way of the Alphabet...

for the first two sets - click here and here...

T = I played the "trumpet" starting in Fifth Grade - and then

quit when I got braces on my teeth.

U = Up Up and Away!  my first airplane ride was to Louisiana

to visit my sister - and I was over 40 years old.

V = Our "vacations" can be from 2 day road trips, long weekends,

trips on horseback, snowmobile trips to week long vacations - 

I enjoy them all!

W = "words" - I enjoy poems, quotations and anything words -

I like to add them to tags, cards, walls - anything!

X = exhilarating - I've packed in on horseback in the mountains

of Idaho (Bitterroot/Selway area) 14 miles - it was a

great adventure.

This is a page out of our scrapbook showing us
packing in - this is me on that narrow mountain 
side trail.

Y = "Yeah" - we are almost done with this crazy idea!

Z = Zinished! that was harder than I thought it would 
be - hope I didn't chase any of my blogger friends
away - 




Now the one I forgot!


M = my most challenging job has been a Mother  - and  I 
wouldn't change it for the world.   I have two 
wonderful kids!





I will get back to some other blogging ideas - but you
sure need to be creative in the middle of winter.

In Minnesota....

*You try your best to keep warm during the winter - 

except this winter has been pleasant - today it was

warm enough to have water dripping from the 

roof.

*You spend the summer cutting and splitting wood to get

through the frigid below 0 degree days - except this

year it is pretty mild and the wood pile is looking

good.

*You have a tub full of a number of hats, mittens and

scarves to share with everyone that visits - this 

year I just brought the tub in from storage

*You start wearing your winter wear before December

comes - this year it is the end of January and Daughter

just asked about her snowpants!

Although it certainly has been a different winter here

in good ol' Minnesota - I guess we aren't complaining...

mild  has its' benefits also.

We have a little snow - enough that I took my sled out

for a ride and drove in just certain spots around the fields - 

where the wind has piled up the snow.  I am hoping

it isn't the only ride we get here... but we will see.

Below I am sharing some old photos... of playing

in the snow.

This picture is Dad and I  -  families would often get together and snowmobile 

up and around the Smokey Hills Forest which is 

close to our farm

Us kids would play outside for hours in the snow - here I

am pulling my sister around on the saucer.

Getting To Know You OOPS Me!

Join me for the second set of "Getting to Know

Me" ---  click here for part 1




J = "Just" Hubby and I now somewhat empty nesters - 
getting used to doing what we what.


K = was the recipient of the "Key" Award as a member of
4-H - was also a Key Leader for our local club for
several years and just received recognition for
volunteering 15 years.


L = "Live"  "Love"  "Laugh" - life is too short not to 
have each one of these in your life.


N = Growing up "Nachos" were one of my favorite
foods and still are but now I have to eat a more light
version or be happy with chips and salsa.


O = "oldest" of three girls - I am 12 yrs older than the baby.


P = showed "Pigs" in 4-H and in 1985 showed the Grand
Champion Barrow at the Minnesota State Fair.


Q = "queen" - my closest to being queen was being a 
part of the homecoming and snow daze royal court
my senior year.


R = grew up "riding" horse - I never went a day without
riding my pony Tinkerbell.

S = "studied" at a college in southern Minnesota for one
quarter  - I thought I had dreams of  being a vet. assistant
- then came back home and studied at a
local technical college.


stay tuned for the last section  :)

Staying on Task

Last weekend was not good at the scale - the Weight 

Watchers scale that is  - so this

week is "SWITCHING IT UP" week

I packaged up the Chai tea - maybe too  much of a 

good thing (although the only ingredient that

had points was the dried milk).... so we will see

Exercise will be as normal - none of the sneak in

a mile here at break etc.  You would think that

would be great but maybe not so....

Mega fruit and veggies on the plates and how

about a salad at least once a day!

OK do you think that will do it?  

We will see...

Hither and Thither!

Probably our biggest news of the weekend is that

today we are getting some snow - very little 

but it is white stuff!

My weekend project other than getting my hair done --- :)

I sure enjoy how your

hair feels after a visit to the shop - back to

my project:

I am working on daughters' senior year scrapbook 

pages - hope to cross it off the list - DONE!  Seems 

strange that the graduations are done and we

have no big events to plan.

The stocking I needed to cross-stitch is done!

Now I am getting the urge to possibly try rag rugs with

material or t-shirts.

Hubby and I joined Daughter and TJ for the movie -

War Horse.  We enjoyed it although some

of the scenes made me want to cover

my face  :)

Our visit to the newly remodeled "Big Mac" store found

a very interesting way to clean the floor.   There was

standing water throughout the entire building and

they were squeegeeing the floor...  I was

memorized with the standing bubbles on the floor

wondering if inside the Manager was having a fit.

I even had to ask if something had "broke" - I was

told "no, just cleaning the floor because it

wasn't busy".    We carefully ordered in the
standing water and then carefully found our way to
sit down - yes the floor was wet there too!  Crazy  :)


Have gotten into Pinterest... wow for projects - will
sure help with ideas!


Hither and Thither are just comments or random
thoughts about anything in my lil' place in the country.

From the archives.... the year was 2000 - a young
daughter and Rudy

Below Zero!

This week when it was below zero..... 

Zoey was not one bit happy -- having icicles on

her whiskers did not sit well....

And the dog with two fur coats on was inside by

the heat register looking outside....

Nobody said "life is fair"

Getting To Know You OOPS Me!

It is my turn to head on through the alphabet
and give y'all words that describe me... 


some things will not be a surprise  :)


A = "animals" are always my friends and were my favorite
pastime as a youngster growing up on the farm.


B = "backyard" one of my favorite parts of my home  - living 
in the country.


C = "call center" I work as a call center agent - tied to the
phone all day long.


D = "diary" when I was in grade school I enjoyed keeping
a diary, later it became a journal, now it is blogging.


E = "ear candling" I and my family have done ear candling... yes
putting the ear candles in your ear and the flame pulls the
wax up and out of your ear.


F = "first job" was working at a local craft theme park that
also had trail horse rides - It was fun giving visitors a riding
experience through our beautiful woodsy area.


G = "gymnast" I was in school - I never moved off of the
B team but I was a whole lot better at that than basketball.


H = "haircuts" were done by family members for years.  I hated
 my short short boy haircut... Funny thing is my daughter also
has her own story where she hates her boy haircut too!


I = "iceskating" as a youngster on an outside rink with a
warming house -- something my kids never did.




That is enough for today....  if you wish to play along start
your own "getting to know you alphabet".


Have a wonderful Friday!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

We dropped into the icebox this week - Wed. night we are at 16 below 

and getting colder..... the dogs are all inside tonight - 

This past week I have had the fun to meet up with some

co-workers (old and new).... my present job finds my

co-workers all over the state so while we were visiting

Lineman Son it gave me a chance to meet up with some

ladies in that area - we had a pleasant brunch at a

small coffeeshop.   

Wed. night in the cold.... I was able to meet up with

some old co-workers - it is always fun to catch up on

the old and the new!


Now that we are in the middle of winter and January is
really acting like January - I am sitting here
sipping on my cup of Chai tea.....   looking at my
pictures from 2011....


These are just a reminder that spring is right
around the corner - 

The Work Continues...

The end of April 2011 - Lineman Son  moved into his home

and the work began. 

Upon moving in he found - many piles of junk - lots of fencing and

an overgrowth of trees and weeds.

Closing Day

First came - mowing and just getting a yard back -- then

he had some of the steel & junk hauled away -- the piles he could see

anyways.

July 2011

Dad put in some hours mowing (the weeds were terrible)

and even some discing..

Then the end of August they started hitting the big stuff - the

tall stuff surrounding each outbuilding...

This was the first path through (this picture is

looking back towards the house)

Finding one of the outbuildings....

With our mild winter - Lineman Son has been able to

continue working on his tree lines... this is what

what we found last weekend...

January 15, 2012

Cleaned out and now some piles to be burned.

Amongst the brush and dead trees there were piles

of garbage, steel and just stuff...  Lineman Son 

will continue as long the weather holds out -- kinda

nice getting some of that spring work done in

the middle of winter...

A Year Ago - Archives

Some pictures from the archives - January 2011

A beautiful frosty morning - I don't believe we have

had many frosty mornings yet this year....

We have had some beautiful sunsets - none that

shine over the snow like years past...

Lenny had a difficult time last year getting

through the unbeaten path....

It does hold a beauty all of its' own....

----------------

We visited Lineman Son and his Gal this weekend - we

ran into a 45 degree afternoon on Sunday - is it

really January?  .....   update to follow

No Resolutions - Just Doing It!

No New Years Resolutions this year - I am going to continue

with what I started.

I am a  Lifetime Member of Weight Watchers and have

been since  2000.  I no longer consider it a diet but

do consider it a lifestyle change.

I have incorporated many different eating habits, different

grocery items and cooking methods into our daily lives

(hubby is even doing some of them ex: using olive oil;

steaming veggies) and some major portion control.

I began attending meetings and weigh ins again to 
give me that extra hummmph.... to continue
what I have started and to maintain.  

In the next few weeks you  may find "little notes" to

myself to remind me of these upcoming goals and to

help stress ---  * portion control   * no caffeine

* limited intake of sugar  * journal everything
that is eaten.

The Small Tree -

I thought it would be fun to keep up the small tree

that I had out for Christmas - it was simple only

decorated with white lights.

For January - it is the "snow" tree decorated

with some ornaments I made a few years

ago along with some new small snowflakes.

---------------

It seems that Blogger was acting up in internet

explorer - when I switched over to chrome google 

everything is fine and so much more faster....

I may never go back  :)

----------------

Not complaining here but are weather sure turned -

we are at 0 with a wind chill..... brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Getting prepared for the weekend - tomorrow is

TGIF --- I always enjoy when Friday

comes around!

Blogger is ....

I am struggling with Blogger last night and today -

I can't go into my blog, hit comments and have

them come up - they disappear and the screen

goes white......

So I cannot leave a message on my own blog - don't

know what is going on....

Hope to figure this out soon!



Tuesdays Walk -

You have to get out and enjoy our weather  - I have

to remind you that it is January in Minnesota - I believe

it is the first January I have ever wore slip on shoes

with no socks down the driveway to get the mail along

with a jacket left wide open and no hat nor mittens.

This is our January 2012 yard.... a little dusting of

snow but really not even enough to build a snowman.

The yard decor which is left out all year long - you

can only see some snow way in the background -

Headed to the mailbox - the driveway is covered with

snow covered ice - it stays pretty shaded most of the

day so that is where we have the most snow.

The first significant snow fall (and only) Hubby did not plow

or blow snow - he likes for it to create a base making

it easier to plow.

The end of the driveway and ditch have snow - (if it

didn't melt today) - you can see the

field across the road is dirt black bare - 

 todays' temperature was a warm

40 something degrees.  Most of this snow has

blown in off of the prairie -

and is nicely caught in our trees.... making

a drift in the trees.

On my way back to the house - I walked real slow

and just let my face soak up the sunshine....

......ahhhhh  :)  

Now today as I am posting this - it is still dark out
but I can hear the wind blowing - the weatherman
said the weather is to change - maybe January
is arriving.

A Good Start to The Week!

Hello Monday and Welcome to the second week

of January!

My weekend of naps and chai tea did me good - I am

feeling much better today (and thanks to the meds).

Last night I made my first batch of Chai

Tea - it is so very easy - and I used all fat free/sugar free

items and decaf tea -- so I am not re-creating some

bad habits (that evil  sugar and caffeine).

The recipe can be found at West Side of Straight - if you

are new to my blog - Jo is my mother.   Click here for
her post which includes the recipe  - be sure to leave
her a message.

The Christmas things are put away for the most part - I have
a couple of things that our on my to-do list and I never seem
to get them finished prior to Christmas - so this year I am
not putting them away until they are done:

#1 - This is Hubby's Christmas stocking - I cross stitched
this stocking in 1988 when I was expecting our first born...
the stocking was completed prior to Christmas but I didn't
want to add "dad" to it until Hubby was actually a dad - couldn't
have any jinxing going on  :)

Well - it never got done although I did finish two more Christmas
stockings..... and Santa always did remember dad so it
really wasn't a big deal...    here you go.... I am adding "DAD" to
Hubby's stocking only 23 yrs late.

I do slightly regret not doing this earlier - I have
found out that my eyes are no longer good for that fine
fine detail - I have to use Hubbys' cheaters  :)  don't
think I will be starting any large cross stitch projects.

AND

#2 - will be a post in itself... that is when I get started,
worked on and completed!


Now for little notes to myself:

And I love this organizing sign I found while blog

hopping - check it out at the website noted at the

bottom of the sign and then you can print it out.

Just perfect!

The horses were out and about today - soaking up

that sun shine and getting a little salt lick in - in a

later post I will be introducing you to the oldest "lady"

we have here "in the country" - she is an aged

sweetheart and this weather is just great for her.

January Rewind....

* I am a little bit behind -

* I am a little bit off schedule

* I am a little bit frustrated.

* I feel not my best but getting better

* Not serious just a cold turned bad

* Causing coughing and at times losing my voice

* Which makes working a task

* Medication is wonderful but hasn't fixed it yet

* Warm weather makes it easier to be outside

*No Snow - very frustrating

* We had plans for Snow Fun - now on the verge of

cancelling.

This week will be better - I am hoping for a NORMAL week.

------

Yesterday, Brodee stopped for a visit (Brodee is daughters' pup)

Isn't he a handsome lil fella?  He has grown a lot

even since Christmas - he loves to come here

and play outside with the big dogs!

I think he his pretty proud that he is

catching up with the other dogs....

Have a wonderful Sunday everybody - I am

off to try and get the Christmas stash all put away  :)

Four Years of January....

Wow what mild (no warm) weather - this weather is something -

we are breaking records daily and by looking at the weather

map the U.S. is pretty much the same - no snow.   I believe

the weather map showed snow in Northern Minnesota - huh

we don't have much and yesterday most of it melted.

 

This has really put a cramp in our winter hobby - which

is snowmobiling....  I am complaining only because we

do really enjoy it.   On the flip side - it is nice for the

electric bill and nice for the animals as long as we

don't drop  below zero the next day.

 

Today I was able to take a couple walks outside with

no jacket - yes in January!   I also removed the

Christmas lights from the deck railing and had a

window open.... I hear it is suppose to be nice

through the weekend - so I will try to remove

the doggy paws and nose marks from the windows...

 

Mother Nature  - here is just a little reminder to clear

up your confusion.... we really don't want snow or

cold temps in July....

2012 - Projects #1 - Christmas Cards

I am a project junky - at least browsing and finding

ideas - I don't always get the project started or

completed - but I do have the idea!

I gather many ideas from fellow bloggers - and I thank

each and every one of you for giving me inspiration!

This project took about an hour this evening -

Thanks to I {heart} Nap Time for this project idea - be

sure to stop over and visit her blog and get the printable

"Christmas Cards" if you wish.

Supplies needed doing it "Livin' It Up Country" way =

binder, cardstock, adhesive tape or double sided tape

and protective sheets.

Ta-dah!  Very easy and didn't take much time.  I put

together the 2011 Christmas cards (mostly the photo

cards) within an hour. 

I also included the handmade cards I received - this will

be very easy and handy just to set out at Christmas to

share with family and friends.

I have one addition to make to this binder - I always keep

one of our Christmas greeting along with a copy of our

Christmas letter and have done so for many years - I am

going to add another page to include that information.

Let me know if you come up with some different ideas.