If only...

I'm trying to make a blogging comeback, but it seems the harder I try, the busier I get. This has been a very crazy year. It has never taken so long to get moved and settled in. We're coming in on six months now, and while we are making progress, there is more to do. This unsettled business might have something to do with the fact that we are not only trying to get our house finished up before winter, but we also have five acres of land that needs to be made ready for a smidgen of livestock, and we need to put a gas line in so we don't have to rely on electric heat! Mix that together with the fact that the jobs we are getting requires a lot of traveling. And, well, there's just not much time left for blogging. And, oh, how I miss that blogging time. 

However, one of these days, we will get caught up on our work! (I hope, I hope, I hope! Fingers crossed!)

If all our jobs could be like this recent job, I would not complain AT ALL! We put gutters on this house shortly after we moved back form North Carolina, three years ago. They had just moved in, and they had giant 4-foot high ferns all over the place. I mentioned that I loved all their ferns. They hated them and wanted to get rid of them. I could have whatever I wanted. I happily went around digging out as many ferns as I thought would fit into our truck, occasionally stopping to help Hubby with the gutter work. Oh happy day!

They recently called for another job. There wasn't much I could do, but Hubby said I could go along because they had a bunch of blueberries they said I could pick. We love getting free fruit because that turns into brandy! He also said I could take my bathing suit and go swimming in their pool afterwards.  I wasn't sure I'd feel comfortable going swimming in a stranger's pool, but I took my suit, just in case.

We arrived at the job about 9:00 a.m. Hubby started surveying the situation while I took my buckets and headed for the blueberry bushes. Those bushes were jam-packed with berries, and I picked to my heart's content. It took three hours to get through them all!

Meanwhile, Hubby was up on the roof, tearing off wood-siding, making repairs, and replacing new siding.  The weather was nice and pleasant, but of course, it's always at least 20 degrees hotter on the roof.

 After my strenuous three hours of picking blueberries, I did decide to take a dip in the pool. 

Oh yes! It was a heavenly as it looks. I'm pretty much a fish when I get into the water. I forget how much I love being in the water until I actually get in. Ohh, I love it! So this is where I spent the remainder of the day. Floating on a little raft, getting off and swimming around the pool, hoisting myself back up on the raft, floating, swimming, floating...you get the idea. Just me and the pool. I told Hubby on the way home that I think we need to put a pool on the list of things to get someday!

 Right beside the pool was a butterfly bush, and those things do indeed, attract butterflies. I hopped out of the pool to have a little photo shoot with a butterfly.

These were the sights that greeted me as I swam and floated around and around. Beautiful gardens everywhere! I hope to make a similar transformation in our yard - someday!

The blueberry bushes are in the background

 What? Did you say you wanted to see a picture of me in my bathing suit? I'm blushing. I'm very shy about that sort of thing, but for you I will make an exception! 

Hee hee. I'm hilarious!

This week my agenda includes this:

Yep. Scraping and painting our house. And, guess what I'll be doing for the next two weeks after that. Scraping and painting another house. Oh, the fun of it all. 

How I wish I was back here:

Until next time,

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Introducing My Amazing Daughter, Author

It's taking much longer than I thought to get back into the blogging groove. But, I have a very good reason to blog today. My amazing daughter is having a special release party for her new book, "Nude Honesty".

And although I had great plans of sharing with you the talent she has, I am in the process of canning.  (I just picked apples from the apple tree, so I can make applesauce... I don't know when I will get out of the kitchen.)  So, this short video about her book will have to do for now (but I assure you, she has done quite well with her book and I enjoy her writing very much.)



And for those of you who enjoy giveaways, there is also a giveaway for "Nude Honesty" on Goodreads.

Back to the kitchen I must go... I hope to get back into the blogging world soon.  

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Hello my dear bloggy friends, and Happy August! I had hoped to be back before now, but things in our life seldom go as planned.


Let's take this morning as a little example. The morning got off to a good start. We arose by 7:00. I fixed Hubby some coffee and a nice breakfast, which we ate at a leisurely pace. He then went into his office to do his office stuff and prepared to do a small gutter repair job. I strolled out to the garden to pick beans and tomatoes, with plans to freeze the beans today. While picking the tomatoes, I noticed a peculiar sight - it kinda looked like a small cow patty, but I knew it wasn't since I hadn't seen any cows roaming in our garden. (Brilliant deduction on my part.) However, upon closer inspection, I realized it was a tiny nest with three baby birds, still alive. I immediately looked around to make sure my kitties were not close by, since they like to follow me out to the garden.

I picked the cherry tomatoes and some plum/Roma tomatoes, all of which have rotten bottoms! (Any of you gardeners know what causes that? The drought, perhaps?) 

I had moved on to the beans when Amazing Daughter called to say the jewelry store where she works was broken into during the night. (Second time in two weeks! They didn't get anything, but broke the show window and the showcase.)


Then Hubby came out to say good-bye; he was on his was to do the repair job and would be back in a couple hours. I said I'd be working on the beans, and we walked back to the house together just talking about how much we loved being where we are, and how we wanted life to just slow down some so we could enjoy our little five acres, blah blah blah.


Fifteen minutes later my cell phone rings and it's Honey Bun aka Hubby. He said, "Go to the garage and find the big chain."


Like a good wife, that's what I do. "OK, I found it."


"Now go and put it in the red truck and bring it out to me. I'm broke down."


My thoughts went in two directions. You mean the truck that we just got fixed for the third time is broken down? "WHAT!?! I have to drive the red truck?"  - The non-automatic 5-speed truck which you promised that I would never have to drive, and let me remind you I haven't driven a 4-speed for 30 years - that truck?? That's not what I said, but that's what was going through my panicking mind. I started hyperventailiting!

He was very understanding. "Well, you sure can't pull this truck with the car!"


"O.K. I have to go puke right now. I need to take a few practice rounds around the yard before I go out on the road. How can I get to you without having to stop on any hills?"  I have a lot of fears when it comes to driving. So, he gives me directions about taking the highway to prevent going through town. (I have a lot of fears about highway driving, too! I'm just one big mass of scaredy.) As he is giving me directions, I'm trying to picture the proper exit in my mind, and it takes him several explanations until I can clearly see where I have to go. In the meantime, I'm taking deep breaths, telling myself that I can do this. I'm trying to put on my big-girl panties, even though they may be soiled in mere minutes. After we hang up, and I have gathered up my meager amount of courage, I realize I don't have a key to the truck. Ahh yes, there is a God! Thank you, God. I may live to write another blog!


So, I call Hubby to tell him this unfortunate news while trying to act disappointed. My call goes to his voicemail, so I take this as a sign that he is making other arrangements. I was right! He contacted a friend with a big truck to do the hauling, I just had to bring over the chain in the car. 


I make my way into town, drop off the chain, then follow Hubby and our dear, wonderful friend, to the mechanic. When we get to the mechanic, he says it could either be the fuel pump or a module - whatever the heck that is. The module will only take an hour or so to fix, the fuel pump will take days, since he doesn't have the part. Hubby and I both decided it would be the fuel pump!


After sitting at the mechanics for 30 minutes, Hubby told me to just go on home, he would be there awhile, and would call if I needed to come back and get him. 


So, I left. Within two minutes my phone rings. I'm trying to blindly find the thing, fishing through the vast area of my purse, while keeping my eyes on the road. Just before I turn left to go home, I answer the phone, and it's Honey Bun. 


"Hey", he says, "why don't you stop by the car dealer - I think they work on Mercury's - and see if you can get the code for the door opener."  I'm a little confused about what he's talking about, but try to hide it - that never goes well! -  Finally, it clicks. Our car has keyless entry, but we need the factory code in order to set it. So, I turn right, essentially going around the block, and make my way to the car dealer. I see that they do not have "Mercury" listed on cars they deal with - but we have been there for work on our Chrysler. 


So, now I have to go in and talk to the guy behind the desk. When I left the house two hours earlier, in a bit of a hurry, I had been out in the garden, in clothes that I would not normally been seen out in public wearing. And now, I had to get out of the car and walk into the car dealership. Much to my dismay, he said, "No, we don't work on Mercury's." When I asked who does, he pointed in the direction I had just come. So, back into my car I get, head back in the same direction I came from, and pulled into that car dealership. Get back out of the car, wearing my hillbilly gardening outfit.  Why, yes, they do work on Mercury's, and to get the factory code, they would need to hook up to the computer blah blah..$47.50. I did not have $47.50 on me, so I told them I'd take a rain-check. 


As I'm pulling out of that car dealership, Hubby calls me again, to stop by the mechanic because he may be able to find the code somewhere in the car. I had been giving him  play-by-play phone calls along the way. I told him I was starting to feel like a yo-yo! Back at the mechanic's, he searched high and low, inside and outside for the darn code. It was not to be found anywhere. 


I was finally sent on my way home. Our broken-down truck would be fixed soon, and Hubby would be on his way to fix that poor woman's gutters. What a morning! 


I immediately sat down at the computer to write this story, and now, two hours later - this computer is possessed by an evil computer demon - I have not gotten one bean ready to freeze! But, that is next on the agenda as soon as this blog has been posted! 


I hope to get back to regular posting, and visiting you all! 


Until next time,  

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