Last Monday of July

What do you do when you're tired from work, people, jobs and did I mention people? You try to have some fun. Laughter is the best medicine!

We were moving some wedding-shower presents....and who says even big boyz can make their own fun?!

Let me introduce you to my three bucketheads:

oh...and the girls too!

Can you visualize 21 gallons of paint? That is what three of us ROLLED on the walls in my new house yesterday. Yes...ONE day....I have muscles aching that I didn't know I had. I also have an eye infection. It's been a tiring weekend.

ONE MORE WEEK TILL THE WEDDING! Actually 5 days. We're excited, but we're sure ready. YES...I have my dress! May have paint in my hair, but I have a nice dress!

Brick on the house--

I've owned stacks of bricks since January, but it sure looks good seeing it on the sides of the house instead of piles on the side of the lot!

All of the house has the sheetrock taped and is ready for texturing. This picture shows my kitchen---isn't it georgous?! It's twice the size of my current kitchen....I'm gonna love it. I've been looking at other people's homes trying to get cabinet ideas. Do you have anything special in your kitchen that I would love?! I'm taking ALL ideas!

Check your dishwasher....

I have a Maytag dishwasher and have ordered a new one for the new house. Received a letter yesterday saying that my old one may be a fire hazard.
Yep......checked the serial and model numbers and mine is definitely on the list of hazardous ones. It's ran 4-million loads of dishes but it's suddenly unsafe to use.

Oh, they'll send you $75 towards a new (same brand) one or will send the Maytag repair man out to fix it.

The instructions say to "unload, unplug and repair or replace immediately". Two months of doing dishes by hand? Okay...yes, I'm spoiled. I like my dishwasher.

Here's the link if you want to check our your Maytag. My voucher is in the mail!

A little bit...

Bren from Pieces From Me taged me to tell 7 random facts about me. Since I'm such a not-exciting person, this is really hard...but I'll try to tell some things that you might not already know.

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 know I'm suppose to tag people, but it's summer and everybody is very busy. 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.

July 12th

Two times on this date in the 40+ years I've been on this earth it's rained. Today is the second one of them. It NEVER rains on July 12th. It's suppose to be hot and dry this time of year. Since this is the nothing-is-normal year....it might as well rain.

I'm guessing today will be normal in that it's un-eventful. I may be going towards OKCity to buy some more wedding items, but I haven't gotten the final call on that. My dress is bought, so that's one less worry. I maybe barefooted....but at least I have a pretty dress to wear.

New house update: The sheet-rockers are suppose to be done today too. The tape-texture crew will show up next week. The cabinet maker is coming out this weekend to measure. It's coming along one step at a time.

Absolutely no sewing done lately. I'm actually thinking about boxing some things up and not even worrying about them until I get moved into the new sewing room. I walk into it now and think about how I want it arranged. So many possibilities.....it's gonna be nice to have ROOM!

Edit**--Dh called me at noon and asked "why didn't you tell me it was your b'day?"! We've been running in circles so much, we don't know if we're coming or going. He had to go to the crop-insurance agent and check on collecting money for this soggy crop and as he was signing and dating the papers he realized what today was.

Walmart has their school supplies already out. Is that depressing or what?

Progress on the 4th

I've learned never to make too many plans...'cause they usually don't work out. There's always a kink to everything.--especially when you're working with construction-crews.

But...since I can count on a few people, we did see some progress last week.

Contractor decided that it would be a lot easier for us to paint, if we climbed onto the front-end loader and ride on it instead of a ladder....heights don't usually bother me.....usually. What's hilarious is that we had to put on TWO coats! TWO trips to the top of this peak! Hopefully, we won't have to paint for a LONG time!

We tried to paint fast and I had just as much paint on me as the eaves. I was told several times that I was saving myself a lot of money....I sure hope so.

Remember all of the concrete problems we had with the basement....well, this is the dust from two grinders trying to smooth out walls and ceilings in the basement.

I was volunteered to run the grinder on the kitchen floor to smooth up the patch in there. I have muscles in my arms that I didn't know existed.

The electrician is finished and the insulators came and finished yesterday. They first put this mesh fabric up and then came back and filled it full of blow-in insulation. The fabric reminded me of a dryer sheet and then the insulation is like poly-fill. Some of the walls have "the pink stuff" and then other's have this blown-in style.

Hopefully, we'll have sheetrock Monday. They partied a little too much over the 4th and couldn't quite-make it back to work for a few days. Must be nice to be so undependable and still get the job!

We've also gotten another 2" of rain since July 4th. Hopefully we'll be done with wheat harvest TODAY! We've never cut wheat this late before and have never fought the mud like this either.

Still gotta eat!

Shhhhh.....don't look now, but we've had 6 hours without rain!

The schedule for this week:

Monday-electrician finishes

Tuesday-heat/ac gets installed

Wednesday--Holiday...nobody works (but us cleaning up)

Thursday--insulation guys come

Friday--Sheetrock crew comes and does the whole house

We'll see how we stay on schedule, but so far we usually stay on it. Since it's all work being done inside, they do come when they're suppose to. Oh, the bricker may start this week, and the cabinet-maker is starting this week too.


I spent the weekend painting and caulking the undereaves and under the front/back porches. I'm multi-talented as I also "got" to run the sander to smooth out some rough spots in the concrete--where my kitchen island goes. Oh such fun.....and oh that shower felt so good that night!

But...since we still gotta eat..and I've been feeding construction workers, here is a recipe I made and they all gobbled it up.

Sweet Bread

1T yeast
31/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 t salt
1/2 c butter --1 stick
1 egg
1/4 c water
1c milk

Combine sugar, butter, water and milk in microwave container and heat till warm.
Add yeast to warm liquid and add egg, flour and salt and mix until forms a soft ball. I do this in my stand up mixer. May have to add another T of flour.

Cover and let rise until double. I leave it in my mixer bowl and just cover it with plastic wrap.
Shape into desired form and let the dough rise again.
Bake 350 for 15 to 20 minutes. My guys like for me to make them into hamburger-sized buns for sandwiches or hamburgers. Yes, they're probably considered king-sized buns, but they're really good! You could shape it into a ball and bake in a pie-tin like purchased sweet bread.

Very versatile, very good, very easy.


I took the pictures on my kitchen table as I was trying to get some blocks made for guild meeting too. If you ever make this easy bread....you'll never buy the store bought again. It's SO easy!