End of Year Activities-Part 2

State Farmer Degree at the State FFA Convention in OKCity. Three Seniors from our FFA chapter. There were 648 students receiving the honor and you can see the numbers on the chairs in front of them.

End of Year Activities-Part 1!

We've been going so much here lately, I don't know if I"m coming or going. Thought it would just be easier on me to do this in several parts. Bear/bare(?) with me!

Prom 2009

Mother's Day Cuteness

I haven't shown the girls in awhile and they've grown quite a bit. This was both DIL's first Mother's Day and I think they've both doing a great job. This grandmother is quite proud of the fact that she has two bundles of pink to love on!

The youth of Today

My youngest offspring is about to graduate from H.S. in about two weeks. I remember being 18....I was already married.
He has a college picked out and we have all of the necessary paperwork ready for him to go. Now, if my money tree will just bloom we'll have it made.

Bear with me for the next few weeks while I"m in and out. I'll post pictures when I can...and YES..we had a wonderful Mother's Day!

FFA Night

We were in OKCity the other night getting Troy's State Farmer Degree with FFA. If you've ever been a part of FFA, you'll understand the importance of this. There were 648 students from Oklahoma who qualified for the honor...and they read EVERYBODY'S name. Long night but lots of fun.

May is going to be a busy month. Graduation announcements are printed!

Trip

No, I'm not going on a trip (Lord knows I could use one), but this is what I've been working on. It's scrapy-trips from Bonnie's quiltville site. I'll post the link if anybody needs it. The blocks have all been sewn together, and it needs a couple of borders but this project works up really fast. And...right now I need fast for some graduation presents. There are some really ugly stuff in this quilt, but it all goes together in something like this. Click the picture if you want to see UGLY!

Everybody Needs a Watch-Cat

Boots keeps the lion, tigers and bears off of the back porch. He also watches over Rusty to make sure he keeps out of trouble. Can you see that there are WEEDS in my backyard instead of grass? Getting grass started is on my list to-do this spring

Last Friday in April

I hate to admit it, but this week went fast. Maybe we've just got so much going on that the busy fills the time.

I got my car back only after a day of driving the PM. Troy was glad to have his purple machine back too..so, we're both happy. Why is it that when I borrow somebody's vehicle it never has gas in it?

The crop adjuster came to look at our wheat. We're still about 2 weeks away from knowing for sure what is going to happen. There was one field that he told us to destroy--just too much freeze damage to salvage.

Tomorrow we're touring one of the major universities for Troy. I'm to the point where all monies saved goes directly to Troy's college-fund. One more month and he'll be graduating. Is that possible? Need to get his announcements ready to mail out.

Monday

It's definitely Monday.

• Car wouldn't start...just needed a battery....and got an oil change too...and it always needs a tank of gas. We did the vehicle shuffle this morning.


• The crop insurance adjuster comes today. Am not looking forward to what he says. You better hug that loaf of wheat bread 'cause there probably won't be too much wheat cut in Oklahoma this year due to the freeze about a month ago.Taken during harvest-June 2008
  

Frozen Recipe

I've told several about this frozen slush that I make and decided to post it here.
You can make it any flavor/color or combination to suit your own taste...believe me, we've come up with some strange flavors at my house!

2 small pkgs. jello
2 pkgs kool-aid
2 cups sugar

Boil about 2 quarts of water and add to mixture. Stir until dissolved.
Add enough water to make a gallon.
Freeze! It takes a full day for this to freeze..and may not freeze solid overnight.

Okay..now, the fun part. Get out of the freezer and enjoy.

We've made this into punch--add partial orange juice or pineapple juice instead of about half of the water. And then add gingerale to it for a punch.

Instead of gingerale, add rum, vodka or your favorite alcohol for an adult beverage. (one glass at a time because I may not like as much rum in mine as the next person)

Add it to (vanilla) soft-serve ice cream for a smoothie. We've made this for concessions at ballgames to raise money.

This is great for when your 18 yr old has his tonsils out too!

Strawberry kiwi is one of our favorites....as is cherry. Strawberry is also good and add fresh strawberries to your drink.

We keep some of this in our freezer all summer. It's great when you're really thirsty. But...just remember....the color in kool-aid will stain.

Forgot to post...

I'm taking Troy for his 3-week checkup after having his tonsils out. IF your child has strep-throat more than TWICE a year...please, please, please...get his tonsils out while he's young.

Troy would have strep maybe twice, three times a year and the doc always said it wasn't enough to have anything done. The older he got the more he snored....heavens, the kid snores worse than me (and that's bad!). New Year's Eve he had his wisdom teeth out (this has been a bad winter) and that doc said to get his tonsils out NOW! (65% blockage of the throat?) So..he sent me to a throat specialist (larynx doctor--and no, I cannot spell it).

His tonsils weren't big, they weren't huge, they were enormous and they came out the week after the office visit. The surgery was rough on him--remember he's 18. He even had scar-tissue from having strep not real often. He missed a week of school and another week of feeling drained. Red jello is not in his vocabulary any more.

His voice has changed--he's not so nasely sounding and he's SLEEPING! He's also waking up without being so draggy.

Both doctors said that he would've developed (worse than he already had) sleep-apnea. So....if you have a young child who snores...and is tired all the time....and cranky...check his tonsils...do it before they turn 18.

Happy Easter!

I know I have a warped sense of humor--my boys will agree with me on that, but this struck me as being funny.
My oldest was probably close to two years old before I ever knew of the concept of The Easter Bunny bring presents to little kids. We just didn't have that custom at my house. Yes, we hid easter eggs....but to bring a basket full of gifts? Hmmmm.... But, I didn't grow up with Santa Claus either.

I had 13 for Easter lunch--after having a pew-full at church. Had a lot of fun playing with two little girls. We had a nice rain Saturday night and another rainshower Sunday evening. We're SO dry....and I'm afraid we've lost some wheat fields to a freeze.

Gonna be a long summer, I can feel it already!

Latest Finish

Here's a sneak peak before I put it in a box and it goes to JudyL.

and if those plaids multiply any more in my sewing room....I'm gonna send them all away!

Storm that Passed

I didn't shrink them enough...you'll have to click on them to see the whole picture.

Spring Break

Okay...I'm behind on posting, what else is new. I only took a few pictures during the stock show in OKCity, but I like this one the best. All three boys were done showing (all three are Seniors) and it was like "it's OVER"!

No, Troy didn't win big at this show but we didn't expect to either. He did have fun and that is what's important. The END!

I'm kinda posting these after the fact, but this is my FIRST year to have pretty daffodils. The snow kinda did a number on them, but you can also see the concrete broke up that use to be the east porch to the old house. This is looking out my kitchen window and SOMEDAY will be my garden spot.

See the metal swing? (Another) SOMEDAY that is going to set on my new back porch. It's gonna take at least 4 young guys with heavy-duty muscles to pick it up and move it.

Story of my life...

A little snow

We were forwarned about this snow storm coming....the weather-guy said 6 to 9" of the stuff. Well if we got 9", it spread out thin. Here are some pictures out my back door during the past two days.

We didn't quite wake up to blizzard conditions, but we are still under a blizzard warning. Think I'll stay inside and sew!

Thursday

Is it only Thursday? The way I've felt the past few days, I couldn't tell you for sure what day it was anyway. I haven't been real productive....at work or at home. Thankfully, I get to work 99% of my time unsupervised .....I can make it up later on when my head isn't so stopped up.

We surprisingly received 3" of snow last night and this morning. Maybe I was just surprised because I can't stay away long enough to catch the weather report. Glad my car is front-wheeled drive. We must go to work.....and we may just go home early enough to catch a nap before bedtime!

Fast update:

The farm is busy with baby calves.

Baby girls are doing great.

Next week is Spring Break---LAST stockshow in OKCity (Hopefully we won't all be sick)

New picture of Mia:

Strawberries

I've been talking about wanting to do a strawberry bed where the old house use to be. No, not the size of the old house, but maybe a patch.



Well...things don't get done around my house unless I push. Sometimes it's a push on myself, but I have 50 Cardinal strawberry plants ordered....and so now I have to push the other folks on the farm to get the place ready for them to go in.

It's still very dry here, but since my raindance won't do any good....I'll keep watering.

Stockshowing

I have to show a couple of pictures from last week's stock show. I have to say this hasn't been the best (as far as winning ribbons/trophys) showseason for Troy, but not everyone gets to win...right?! I was just hoping his Senior year he could end with a bang...just isn't gonna happen with showing.

The first one is Troy getting ready to go into the arena. He's been showing since 8th grade, so it's not something that Mom or Dad has to help him get ready for. Mr. Independent has been real good about being punctual....going to a show anyway.

This picture (and I felt bad after taking it) was taken after Troy placed 2nd in his class and when the judge was picking order for our premium sale. There are 8 class of pigs(avg of 10 per class)...and Troy placed 2nd in his class...but the darn judge would NOT pick him for sale order.
This is a picture of showmanship. It's like saying "thanks for not picking me"....but my kid was being nice and went over and shook his hand. You can see the gal at the table looking...she told me later on that she felt so bad for Troy. When Troy left the arena, all of the people around me stood up and applauded. I felt very humbled that we have such a great support of parents in our group. The judge just looked at them like "whatjusthappened?"

All I can say is ONE MORE SHOW..... life goes on.

So nice to be warmer

Yes, we're expected to be even in the 80's today and for the next few days. I hate to admit it to my northern friends who still have snow on the ground. I'm setting in my office with a short sleeves on thinking that it's almost too nice to be inside. Of course we're under a wind-advisory but we're hoping it'll bring in a much-needed rain.

I've been horrible about posting here lately. Between grandbabies visits, helping deliver baby calves, work, stock shows, kids, work, farm ...did I mention work? ...life has been more than hectic and stressful. I have a supervisor that I'd love to ship to anybody if they'd take her...I'll buy the one-way ticket today if you'll accept.

I have a camera full of pictures, I'll try to get some new posts started soon.