Happy Halloween

My kids have outgrown going trick or treating and we live too far out in the boonies to have any gobblins coming by for treats. I did set down and watch Charlie Brown and the gang last night for a couple of their seasonal shows. You're never too old to watch Snoopy!

There IS movement in the house...so maybe I'll have some pictures in the next day or two to show what's going on. It's been over a month since anybody has done anything. Nothing like living next door to an empty house that you can't move into!

Have a great Halloween everybody.

Tagged-10/20/30

Giz tagged me for this one. According to my counter, I get read over 70 times a day (yes, I know who you are)....so surely somebody would like to do this too? If you do, go back over here and post.

10 years ago-- I was trying to finish my bachelors degree and taking care of a Mom who was taking chemo. This was a rough year. October was the month we found out she only had a few months to live.

20 years ago-- I had a 5 yr old, a one year old and was a full-time SAHM. It was also the end of the oil-boom days and we were broker than broke.

30 years ago-- I was a Sophmore in High School-- the same age at Troy! I had the world by the tail and had no idea that I was a few months away from meeting my soon-to-be spouse!

A little sewin'

A co-worker is expecting her first baby and this the gift I'm giving her. Her baby shower is saturday and I'll be up to my neck in planting wheat(hopefully), so I'm giving it to her today.

The blankie inside is some frog-camo-flannel that I found at Walmart. She's doing her nursery in frogs and they're both outdoor-type people. It'll be perfect. Another piece of flannel on the back, tied and bound makes a real simple present. The OSU bag will make either a purse or diaper bag-her choice. I did put a pocket inside this one and have decided that I need to do that to all of the bucketbags I make from now on.

This is all the sewing I've done in the past two months..small accomplishment sure can make you feel good!

Coolest Song I've heard in a Long time!

The gal's name is Anita Renfro.

I apologize if you're on a dial-up service. It might take 2 hours to download. My highspeed is wonderful for listening to these.

I also have the words to this, if you'd like to actually read them. This will definitely get you to smile!

Good Monday to You!

Fall has arrived on the farm. No, we do not have all of the wheat planted. It decided to come in and rain so we still have about 400 acres left to plant. IF it wouldn't of showered last night, DH would be back out there today. Instead, he's pacing waiting on it to dry up.....again.

I did get to sew over the weekend. Remember the OSU bags I made to sell? I made another one for a co-worker. She's expecting her first baby in December and since she's an OSU grad, I thought it would be good baby carry-all bag.

I've had several email and ask about progress on the house. Let me just say that this will be my first and last house to custom build. I'm so tired of people saying they're going to be somewhere and they never show up. Our wood-stainer was suppose to be here 4 weeks ago. He decided last tuesday that he wasn't coming....period. He skipped over us and took another job. He's not real high on my likeable list right now. (blogger won't let me post the words I called him) We did find another guy that would work us in. He has promised he'll be here this week. I'm estatic, yet holding my breath. IF (and that's a big IF) everybody would show up---we could be done in two weeks. --did I say that outloud? Don't hold me to it--'cause somebody won't show up.

I'm up for a promotion at work--but I have to apply for it. Ten pages of why I deserve it. Gotta love the paycheck to make the housepayment, so I'll fill it out!

I've received this twice in my email inbox just this week, so I think it needs to be posted on here.


*In case you missed it on 60 Minutes, this is what Andy Rooney thinks about women over 40:

60 Minutes Correspondent Andy Rooney (CBS)

As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:

* * A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night and ask, "What are you thinking?" She doesn't care what you think.

* *If a woman over 40 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do, and it's usually more interesting.

* *Women over 40 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it.

**Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated. Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 40.

**Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 40 is far sexier than her younger counterpart. Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off that you are a jerk if you are acting like one. You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her.

**Yes, we praise women over 40 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal.

**For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed, hot woman over 40, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year old waitress. Ladies, I apologize.

**For all those men who say, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?", here's an update for you. Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage. Why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire pig just to get a little sausage!


Andy Rooney is a really smart guy! *

Nothing like family.

Family Members of ours who always show up for meals and when there's work to do!

These are the cutest stick people. Their webite site is fun.

Saturday on the Farm

Saturdays this time of year are typically very busy. This is our planting season and it takes all of us to make it work. This is what I fixed for lunch. Leftover ham, with bacon, cheese (lots of cheese) inside a bisquick biscuit. I just roll the dough real thin and put the stuff inside. Nobody complains when I make this.

Eating lunch on the side of the road. The wind was howling, so we got out of the dust on the north side of my car. Like I said...nobody complained!
One uses this tractor to work the ground before the other uses the JDeere for planting the wheat. They've been taking turns in different tractors.
I had a Rusty-visitor at my back door. And he wonders why I don't let him in all the time.

The tile-installers woke me up this morning wanting to see if I liked the pattern they put on the shower walls. Looks good to me...just keep going!
And you think the wind blows at your house? This is called "ironing work shirts"!

Just so you know I have quilting still on the brain, this is the panel I bought in Tulsa. It makes into a book. Had never seen it before (like I get out a lot?). It's called "Old Friend Noah had an Ark". It'll make a nice gift down the road.

Seven Thruths MEME

Suze tagged me and since I did this about three months ago, I cheated and just copied what I put on that post--I've also got to get home and take supper to the field--we're planting wheat and DH thinks I need to be helping him instead of sewing.

1~I have always been a farmgirl. Raised on a peanut farm and was raised by a man who didn't think it was necessary to hire anybody to work 'cause he had us girls to do it. I can drive a tractor with farm equipment as well as any type of truck you put me into. I can describe (& understand) irrigation, engines, farm-crops and any type of equipment as well as fertilizer (chemical to organic)!

2~I did not marry a farmer. My husband did! When my boys were little, I stayed at home and did the farm work while he worked in town. Pigs, cows, chickens, turkeys and kids were all part of our little farm which eventually has grown to 1200 acres. My hands have been in places I probably better not say online....I am not afraid to get dirty! Now, I live with a stay-at-home farmer and I work in town.

3~I have a degree in computer/business education and have taught classes. It took me 18 years to get my bachelors degree. The degree helped me get my current job with the federal gov't...yes, it's a division of the agricultural department.

4~I owned a bakery for four long years. Probably not what you expect from a school-teacher/farmgirl, but it was something I wanted to do....and then something I wanted to get out of. I have old-family recipes that I do NOT give out! lol I was raised by a Mom who thought every girl should know how to make a perfect pie-crust as well as cook for a harvest crew.

5~I lost both of my parents and grandparents before I was 40 years old. Life and death is very hard to deal with but I learned that I had 4 people at home that I can count on for anything. I also learned who not to count on. Even close family members can say and do very mean things when there's a death in the family. I have very-close family members whom I never care to speak-to again!

6~I'm tall. I've been 6' tall since I was 13 years old. Kinda hard to deal with during the dating years. DH and I are the same size....having 3, 9lb. boys kinda re-arrange my hips a little though. Those 3 boyz have all out-grown us both. My Dad was 6'10" (Mom was only 5'5").

7~I'm probably considered a loner. I love my quiet times alone and can work real good by myself. I do not like crowds, and probably talk more when there's more people around just to justify to myself that I can survive in a crowd. I live with a man who talks non-stop....so I have very good listening skills! Some people might consider me stand-offish because I have to know ya awhile before I talk a whole lot! But then....after you get to know me, I'll talk yer leg off! I don't belong to any social clubs--except Quilters Guild and I have to make myself go because it's the only other time I'm around people besides work.

I know I'm suppose to tag people, but as #7 says, I'm not going to put anybody on the spot. If you want to participate, go ahead....and tell us more about you too.

Here are the rules for the tag:
Each blogger should list 7 random facts about themselves and list these rules for the tag.
Next tag 7 others and list their names on your blog. Leave a comment for each of the tagged on their blogs letting them know they have been tagged and to visit your blog for the rules.

More Choices Made

If you've come to my blog looking to see what I've been sewing on...well, it just isn't happening at my house.....either one of them! I was asked what tile I had picked out so figured I'd show everybody.

Kitchen tile to also be used in laundry room. The smaller one is 12" and the taller one 18".
This shows how close the color is to the color of the dirt outside. Yep..gonna hide real good.

Have you tried to pick out cabinet tops lately? There are literally hundreds to choose from.

Not a real good picture but these are the two choices I'm leaning towards. They're a laminate and are real close to the color of the floor tiles. I have LOTS of countertops to cover and haven't decided if I want to use the same one everywhere.

Decisions, decisions. Oh, I've got to decide on grout color today before 5pm.

Wood-stainer still hasn't showed up. Maybe by this weekend. I'll believe it when I see him coming.

Testing--seeing if this works

Hey! I can write on here! Spending several days with a bunch of teenagers last week I got called MAMA K sooooo many times. Figured it would work for on here too.

Tulsa Fair

It's a 3 1/2 hr drive to Tulsa but a trip we've started doing once a year to attend the second-largest stock show in Oklahoma.

Troy always takes two pigs and usually comes home with at least one ribbon and this year was no exception. Here are a couple of pictures I pulled from the many I took.

I really liked this one because everybody is blurred besides Troy and the judge. Yeah....i meant to do that.haha

This was after showing. Lots of smiles.

I did manage to do some shopping while in Tulsa. There are a couple of nice shops and I visited the Cotton Patch. It's a small shop with lots of stuff packed in to see. Yes...I made a small purchase of a book and some fat quarters.

This is the quilt I saw at the fair that really stood out for me. Have no idea what the pattern is, but it was really pretty in person.

I took a few days off work to make it a long 6-day weekend, so am planning on NOT making plans!

Jumping by---

Does life ever slow down? Maybe if my allergy-meds would work, it would make me at least feel better on this ride.

Remember the bucketbag I showed a couple posts ago? Well, they went into the booster-club's silent auction and brought $35 each. Yes, there were two ---similiar but a little different. I also was asked to make two more for that same price...of which will pay back for the fabric purchased for all sewed.

Also, those of us who always volunteer to do/make for our children involved in too many projects....I made a pan of brownies. Chocolate frosted, nuts..the whole thing. Yep...would you pay $30 for a pan of brownies? Well, one lady did and told me that she'd make sure I got my pan back because she for-sure wouldn't ever use it!

As far as the house-progress. I'm waiting on a wood-stainer. He was suppose to be at my house several weeks ago, but since we weren't quite ready for him he took on another fast-job. That job turned into taking longer than expected, so we're the ones waiting. Stain and then flooring..can you can FINISHED?! Don't ask me when we're moving--Sometime between now and Christmas.

How about a lighting preview? These light fixtures were put on my want-list several months ago for my dining room and kitchen and then low-and-behold Lowe's discontinues them. Oh, the power of Ebay! Some good-soul bought the whole line and they're in the process of being shipped to my Rural Route address as I type! And..did I mention the price was about half of what I would've paid for them if they were purchased 6 months ago? Gotta love a sale.

A Look inside the House

Some weeks there seems to be a lot of progress and other weeks nothing. Here's the latest:




Looking down into the basement. The lights on the left are called "kick-lights". I liked them because I can change the bulbs myself with getting the ladder out. The whole basement is painted "something blue" by Sherwin Williams. I kept singing the Smurf song while we were painting. It's VERY blue...but very pretty. Have I said: The basement is two bedrooms and a livingroom--total area about 26x26 or 676 sq ft.

Standing in the dining area looking towards the walkway on the west side of the kitchen. My pantry door is open and the main part of the kitchen is on the right. The center door goes down into the basement.--Laundry room is on the right side of that door.


Standing in the east side of the kitchen back again towards the pantry over the island which isn't where it's permanent location will be. Pantry has shelves!






My Pantry door. I wanted something different--took me two weeks to find this door. We'll see how long it takes me to break it!

In the livingroom. Doesn't everybody have two saws in their livingroom? The window on the right is over my kitchen sink.




Standing in the other end of the livingroom. The master bedroom is through the hall on the left side and my sewing room is the door on the right.


These two are my sewing room--and closet. I have a south and west window, so there's lots of natural light. The walls are painted a light tan color and the woodwork will be stained this week (HOPEFULLY) .
I was also told I'd have sidewalks, porches and a driveway this week. I've learned to get excited when you see them show up, but not until.

If you haven't noticed, this house is very open. The rooms are large and one flows into another. Had a gal come out over the weekend who wanted to know who designed the house. Yeah...MamaKoch the designer?! All of the contractors have loved working here because of the open feelings to the rooms. They say so many of the new homes today are small choppy rooms. This house doesn't have a LOT of rooms...just usable square feet in each one!

New Quilted Bag

I've been higher than a kite on allergy-meds this weekend, but I knew I had a deadline (okay, I'm a week ahead) for this project.

Every year our FFA group holds a fundraiser where the kids are auctioned off for a day's worth of work. Some of the parents (yeah, you know who we are) volunteer to make handwork or homecooked (fresh cookies) to also be auctioned off.

This is what I came up with this year:

It's called a BucketBag and I got the directions from Andrea at The Welch Quilter.

If you're not from Oklahoma or one of the surrounding states, you make not "get" the fabric. The Orange/Black is symbolic for Oklahoma State University which is the big Agricultural University in our state. ** It's NOT Halloween fabric**

The directions Andrea has posted are easy to follow along. I think the only thing different I did was to shorten the handles. The next one I make may be made with bigger squares and given as a diaper bag.

Since I'm a week ahead of my deadline, I may make another one!

A pretty find....

If you have a minute, go over to Sue's and look at her courthouse steps quilt. I didn't link just the one post because you need to scroll down and look at the previous post of a close-up. It has applique and she's hand quilting it.

Absolutely georgous.

A little quilty!

I got reminded that I haven't posted anything quilty lately. Sorry...I have to dust poor Bernina off anymore before I can even use her.

Here's two things that I have tried to do. These two quilts are string blocks made by members of our local guild--I've sewn them tegether. No, I didn't even make the blocks, but feel lucky to get to set down long enough to sew some blocks!

They both needed pressing before they go to the quilter, but while the wind wasn't blowing and Rusty wasn't around--I snapped a quick picture!

Here is what we've been busy with (besides the new house)--County Fair Time! Grand Champion Barrow. This is the last show before we go to the State Level--which is the first week in October. I'm always inspired at the state fair with the variety of quilts they have too! It'll be a fun trip.

Still here.

It's Wednesday. Only Wednesday? The days are going by fast actually, but this week is full of deadlines and I'm behind.....as usual.

House update: The tile I picked out for the kitchen floor is discontinued, so I picked out another one. Oh wait...they found enough of my tile in a warehouse in Florida if I still want it. But....the wood laminate is discontinued--Pick out another shade. I'm scared to pick out carpet.
The cabinets are all in and the trim carpenter will be here next week. When he's done then the stainer will come. (I call him the Stain-Master)--he's an old friend.
Sinks are picked out, but not for sure yet on cabinet tops. Appliances are in the garage. Bricker will get the front eave done today. Can I breathe?

Quilt update: I have to remind myself that I'm going to have a brand-new sewing room and one day I'll get to sew. Forget it for right now.

Family update: Newly married couple are doing wonderful. My food bill shrunk in about half after the wedding! Troy has another stock-show last weekend and won a 2' tall trophy for showmanship --yes..Mama took pictures, they're still in the camera.

Work update: It's still here and still paying the bills. I was upgraded to a new job title. New position, new responsibilites, new supervisor, travel..LOTS of travel, very little more-pay. It's a good job, so I'm not going to gripe..too much anyway.

Farm update: Can you say QUIT RAINING?! We have gotten over 20" in the past 3 months. A lot of our top-soil is in the ditches next to the road. There's a 40% chance of more rain tomorrow. The weeds are taking over the fields because it's too muddy to get out there and work the soil. DH got his 4-wheel drive tractor stuck in the mud, but luckily could get it out with the neighbor's help. Glad I had to go to work that morning!

Next Monday is a holiday. This Friday is the last day of the pay period and I'm maxed out on over-time. It's use or lose and I think I'm going to USE the extra time and take a Friday off! Four day weekends are the best.

Hope somebody is getting to sew 'cause I'm sure not getting to! I can see a paintbrush in my future tho.

too much of a good thing

Yes, we were hoping for a little wet weather....well, we got it.

We farm between the 9.23" and the 6.5". Yep...more than we needed.

Cindy asked what quilts I entered in the local fair. I entered the Bricks 'n Stones quilt and the Bullseye quilt. I'll just say that the gal taking the entries put the B'nStones quilt in the wrong category (it's their choice not mine) and the judge didn't like the Bullseye. Oh well.....at least I still got to take them home.

Did anybody else get zapped by Gmail? I lost EVERY message I had saved.....EVERY contact I had.....EVERYTHING! I finally got back into it this morning.....SOOOOooooo aggravating!

A break in the heat.

I think it's hot everywhere. This will be the first chance of rain in almost a month. Remember us calling Noah this Spring? A farmer is never happy!



We have a small local fair this weekend. They have a small animal show and of course I had to enter a few quilts. It'll be a nice busy weekend.

Oh...the cabinets have arrived. I've been on the road (a lot) with work the past two weeks, so maybe I can post some pictures later on. No surprises yet and everything has been done that I've asked....so I'm happy so far.