Spring has sprung!!!!

This is how we celebrated the first day of Spring down on the farm.

We had to throw a fishing party!

Here's Danny with his 14" Large Mouth Bass!

Poor thing is still sick...........me too. Yuck, when will this stuff ever end?

I went to the grocery store today and I thought I was going to have to sit down half way thru the store. He said he is just incredibly drained too. Of course he cut wood this morning and hauled a huge dump truck load in before he went fishing with us.
Now if you have ever talked to any of my family they would surely have already told you some of the funny funny stories about the happenings around our fish pond. If it involves a critter that can habitat around or in water we have a story to tell about it.......well no alligators YET!!
Shown above is Morgan's minnow trap that she kept set last year beside the dock and she would go down every day to see if she had anything in it. Of course we would always tell her that she would pull it up with a snake in it one day............oh yeah they like our pond too! Funniest story ever involved a snake and a poll vaulter!!!!! hahahaha
So today Colton ran over as soon as he got to the pond and grabbed the trap up out of the water and said "it's something in there."
Leslie walked up behind him and said "Let me see is it a snake?" "Oh yes it is a snake!!!!!" well not so calmly I might add here......
Of course this was going to be a Nikon moment and I sure as heck wasn't going to be caught on the dock this time!!...........Remember the poll vaulting story...yep that was me caught on the other end of the dock from the snake and I was just about to go swimming!!!




Oh yuck yuck double yucky yuck!!!!!!
The trap was full of lizards!!! I mean full of lizards!!!!
Of course we were all kinda excited because that meant some big bass would be on our hooks shortly...since we had our hook baiter with us today!! I can do worms but no lizards!!
Wrong!!! The pond is full
of lizards and the fish didn't want them today.
Danny caught his bass on a rubber worm.
The only fish caught today.
~
While I have been so sick for sooooooooooo long I have watched a lot of Food Network. I have really fell in love with the Neely's.
This morning they were making Chinese and boy it "Flung a craving on me"......ever heard that saying? It's Jerry Clower at his best!!
So I had to go to the grocery store and get the fixings for some down home southern style chinese food!!! Oh boy I am glad I did too!!


Well not exactly a Chinese dish here, but we had Tiramisu for dessert!
That was really good and soothing on my sore scratchy throat. Shoulda made that weeks ago!


The best part of the meal.........Pulled Pork BBQ and Cole Slaw Egg Rolls.....well smack your mama!! Dipped in a homemade Spicy Peach Dipping Sauce....could you imagine?? Well I thought I could imagine how good they would be but I was oh so wrong.............they were so much better than I could have ever dreamed they could be!!!!!! Those kids were on to something here!!!


I made Cashew Chicken and the Neely's version of Fried Rice with ham.....
Super duper yummy way to celebrate the first day of Spring!!!!!!!!
Sunshine, good food and good family times!!!
Happy Spring to all!!

Eye Candy.......

for the water lovers eyes!

Yesterday we attended the SW Va Boat Show in Roanoke.

This is our 3rd year attending this same show.

This year, however, wasn't near as much fun to me

as the previous two were.

The past two years I was in hot pursuit of a new boat!

We purchased an incredibly nice used boat in Feb 2009

so this trip was just for us to look without that

wonderful anticipation of hoping to own one of these babies!

Here is our boat. It is wonderful! We all love it.

The best part is it's paid for!! woowooo
It's not shiny and doesn't have that new boat smell anymore like all these new babies!


But just take a gander at that price tag! That was kinda a mid line pricing too!
So see we were just dreaming yesterday.


They sure are fun to look at too.

There was a Cutco knife booth there with a very pushy salesman.

Not the gentleman shown in the picture, he was just an innocent onlooker too.

Cuuuuuuttttteeeeeee!! With a capital "C"
These things scare the you know what out of me on the water.

It seems you have to have a Crazy degree to be able to own one of these around our parts.

It's a miracle there are no more deaths than it really is on these things each summer.

I have seen them flipped and flopped and people thrown from them but they seem to just bounce around drink a few more beers and forget about it!!

Gorgeous boat here. I bet this is just what my boat looked like in the showroom.

Here is my captain trying one on for size.....it fits!

He really liked this part of this boat but he didn't really like this picture.

I'll teach him to be goofy when I ask him to smile!!

hahahahaha.....there is a story here...

We go to the boat show each year with some of our boating friends, Jim and Lori.

Lori is a teeny teeny tiny thing but she is a bulldog when it comes to saving money and searching for bargains and freebies. She has guts and she will negotiate a deal with anyone.

They didn't need to negotiate a deal on a new boat because they have a ship bigger than anything that was at this show. When we are at the lake we look like we are riding in a dingy along side the cruise ship!!

anyway...

Lori was trying to negotiate a deal with this rep for a free beach ball for her puppy to play with at home. No no no without children with us the answer was no.

We ended up getting free tshirts if we would put them on and wear them around for the rest of the show and if we would both blow up a beach ball for her display she would give us both a beach ball to take home!! She took our picture and said it just may end up in the local newspaper! Of course I needed a picture of us in our Bigbird shirts too. The best part was when Danny and Jim were on down the aisle looking back and wondering what sorta contest we had gotten ourselves into!! The looks on their faces were priceless.

We had to make a pit stop by Super Shoes on the way down because Lori had to make a return. While we were there the boys decided that they needed some new Carhartt (BOGO free sale) and then they wanted a picture of them sporting there new Carhartt at the boat show.

..................kids!!

These guys are so much fun to be around.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at their home last year.

and here is that home......it is a mansion......my whole house wouldn't fill up their great room.

She has an Amish handmade table that seats 22 in her diningroom.

I felt like I was dining at the White House!!
[This picture does not show the views from their house but it is perched high up on a mountaintop. She feeds the deer passionately and has many that are in her yard almost all day long. Lucky deer is all I can say. With all the snow on the ground and the cold they are starving out this year. We have a coon and a possum that are in our catfood bowl each day now.

Remember I am married to the great white coonhunter too!!]

These are some of the hardest working people I have ever met.

They work hard so they can have nice toys like their big boat and his Corvette!!

It was a well needed get a way for all four of us.

Reminded us that boating season is only a few months away.

I sure hope the snow melts off the boat ramp first.

Our day ended with a great Mexican dinner last night.

What fun!!

I get "Wife Of The Year Award"!!!!

Now I know that you ladies thought you were getting that award but

I am here to tell you that it will be mine as soon

as my husband wakes up and looks at his Valentines present!!!

He is a man of few wishes. He never wants anything.

He is always content with whatever he has.

Always has been like that.

If he has 2 pair of blue jeans and 2 flannel shirts

he has a full wardrobe.

He will occasionally talk of needing new work boots

but he will always wear the soles off the ones he

has before even thinking about actually going to the boot store and trying on a new pair!

Try buying him something for Christmas!!

Now that's a treat ;-)

What do you buy the man who wants nothing?????

Well one year my sister-in-law drew his name for Christmas.

She called and asked me to help her think of a gift for him.

Gee Thanks, I said.

I finally decided that he would love the movie

"Soggy Bottom USA"
We had been to the old movie theatre in Rocky Mt

when it was first out (in about 1980 ish) and he

absolutely fell in love with the movie.

It was about what else but a "coon hunt".

She found it online I think in Canada and

bless his little heart he was as happy as if he got a new BB gun as a child!!!!

I may have just thought of a gift for him for VD that comes a little bit close to that movie.....

A photo album for his coon dogs pictures and pics of his coon hides and fishing pictures and the likes.......one that he can carry around with him and brag on his pups and his catch for the season etc etc etc.....

When I told Leslie what I was getting him she said I would make him the happiest man alive!!!

I'll let you know shortly if it was a hit and if I did get

"Wife Of The Year Award"

I should because I have a picture of

"Tiger" on the front

and she was his favorite coon dog ever!!

We had to have her put to sleep almost 2 years ago and that was a sad time around this house.

Happy Valentines day to all!!

Update ~ I want to Thank my Husband, My Family, My agent, My Wild Imagination,

God, and any one else who had any part in me winning this award!

I Thank You from the bottom of my heart!!

Pigs are flying now......

or you know what has frozen over or something

because Danny Moran asked for me to pull up something about the new trucking rules online.

He expected me to do it as always

but I told him he had to learn sometime.

I made him take control of the mouse and

in a few minutes he was surfing like no body's business!!!!

Now I know that there are some pigs out there somewhere flying around this morning!!

Don't you just love his rhinestone glasses!

He's so cuuuuute!!

Morgan tells him that daily!

~

Jayme~ I do not want you having a heart attack due to my incredibly messy office! I know mine does not in any way compare to the cleanliness of yours!

You see here:

Sewing books

My Bible

Grandma Goldies Picture

Tax papers (cringe)

A book on raising dairy goats

Quilt magazines

Camera manuals

Chicken catalogs

my husband

Seed catalogs

an ER nursing manual (comes in handy around this place)

Camera bag

pictures of grandkids

recipes

my laptop

decorating magazines

dust

a dusting cloth (now that's funny)

and many other items too numerous to mention

Can you figure out at least 2 of my hobbies from this list of items that suck my breath out of me when I am in that office? This is all in a 3' X 3' area! Hey it's my junk and if anyone else wants to come and clean it up for me because it's bothering them just let me know and I'll send my address!!

Why don't you guess my hobbies in order of importance to me?

Of course behind the scenes are 2 sewing machines and 2 quilt projects that I have started. This room is serving several purposes at the time mostly sewing/office!

..............and yes my friends the Christmas decorations are upstairs tucked away for another year...well 10ish months!! While he was upstairs putting the boxes away.....he yelled downstairs at me and asked me "Have you ever seen a more organized sewing room? I bet those women would like to see a picture of this on your blog! Hand me the camera and I'll take a picture for them to see!" That's where my real sewing room is but it's not so convienent to use and I have expanded (apparently) and now need 2 rooms!! LOL!!!!! Yeah those sewing/quilting projects are just rolling out of there left and right!! I told you pigs were flying!!

~

The lip is much better today however it is still very sore.

Thanks for all the sweet comments and well wishes!!!!

I am killing my husband...........

one little meal at a time.

That's what he told me last night after I held that gun to his head and made him eat a HUGE plate of slow cooker pork loin and gravy.

I MADE him go back

"3"

more times.

I made him say to me

"this is the best stuff I have ever ate"

and

then I MADE him eat pie!

~

Then while he was laying back on his chaise lounge,

watching TV,

with a big belly bulge...that was putting it nicely my friends......

He had the nerve

to look over at me

and say

that I was killing him by the way I cooked.

I said "Oh yeah, maybe I shouldn't have held that gun to your head."

"Maybe you should start practicing a little portion control?"

"Huh?....just maybe that would be the issue?"

He said "NO, that's not it."

"You just have to cook only a little bitty bit for both of us, so I can't go back for seconds."

(or thirds or fourths)

~

So there goes my ideas down the drain of cooking enough to last for a couple days. The plan was to have several meals including lunch for me here during the day.

Now I am going to go and burn all my cookbooks and feed him a playing card size piece of grilled chicken breast and a broccoli stick tonight!

He comes in from work so hungry that he will not remember telling me this......I know it was his overly stretched belly doing the talking last night.......but he better think about those words for a while!! Be careful what you ask for!!

I am also going to hide the remote so he will hit the treadmill tonight!!

~

There will be no more

"Becky what you cooking today?"

"Honey what's for supper?"

"Hey I was thinking about an ice cream cone!"

Nope no more of that.....he will get what he wants and that's rabbit food!

This is coming after he had to go up a pants size in his jeans last week....but that's all my fault.

He does have familial hyperlipidemia..high cholesterol and lipids. He was on medication for this and it was working wonders but they wanted it even lower so they doubled it up. Danny immediately couldn't sleep at night because of shoulder and arm pain.

Crying like a child with pain.

He took himself off of it because Dr Danny knows these things.

Said he had to die of something and he couldn't stand the pain.

Now he can't eat anything that he wants.

~

I will try my best to help him with this one.

I just love to cook!

Better yet I love to eat!!!

Please wish us luck on this one!!!

Do you know a truck driver?

My husband is a truck driver for a local lumber company. He has been with the company for 21 years. For the past several years he has mostly been on heavy equipment in the woods or building streets or on some sort of equipment job each day. Occasionally he will have to crawl back in a truck and haul logs if they are behind or lumber if gets behind. This company has so many trucks that it is hard for the few mechanics to keep up with the work that these trucks need to have done on them daily must less the big stuff that needs to be repaired.





Each time Danny crawls in one of these trucks he about strokes because of the stuff that is wrong with the vehicle. Until now any faulty equipment tickets, over weight tickets or any tickets that is not the drivers fault, the company had to pay the fine. As of July 2010 new federal laws are going into effect where any CDL holder who gets a ticket for anything...let me stress here anything, the driver and the company will have to pay the fine and points will be issued per violation. In July they will go back on each driver for 3 years and total up the points that he already has against him and if they have 30 points at that time they will lose their CDL. When they reach 30 points they will lose it then. It is estimated that 175,000 will lose their license in July alone. Danny has no tickets against him in the past 3 years thank goodness!





Can you imagine what the trickle down effect will be from this? I know that this will take some crappy drivers off the road but it will also take some really good drivers who are working for companies who can not or will not keep there equipment up to par. The clincher here is the fact that those points go with the driver when he leaves a company and then he can't get a job with another company either. The good drivers for the really big companies who do spend the time and money on taking care of their rigs will be OK but forget the little man again.





Also between now and July if a driver gets a new ticket the point value will triple!!!!! Danny has been trucking this week hauling pulp wood and of course he was stopped this morning by the DOT to weigh him. Thank goodness no ticket!!!!! Another driver was stopped today and was given a warning for a few different little things that he would ordinarily bring home a ticket for. This other driver will not have a job come July due to 2 different tie down violations and a couple speeding tickets with in the past 3 years anyway. Actually most of these drivers will be gone in July due to the points from overweight tickets alone. Truck drivers can't afford to pay for these tickets themselves and the companies can't afford to stay in business if they can't keep good drivers either. What is this world coming to? We need to drop to our knees and pray really hard for our country.



Please go to the CSA 2010 website and read all these stupid rules and let me know if you have someone that you are close to that this will effect.

Danny also has his own bulldozing business on the side and needs a CDL to be able to drive his own dump truck and move his equipment around.

Slumber party at The Fairy's Rest..............

We have all been ate up with cabin fever so we took off for the weekend to The Fairy's Rest. We had some good Rummy games. I think Papa Danny was cheating here!

Good ole pot of potato soup simmering. It was only 9 degrees outside!!
Colton's turn!

The free sectional sofa with sofa bed came in handy!

The kids were so wired they didn't want to go to sleep. Colton kept telling Emma that there were bears outside to scare her. There are bears outside, which is the problem!!!!

My little Princesses!

a sneak peek at some of the decor now

I love this picture. It hangs above "my" bed. Morgan says it reminds her of Danny and I kissing and my cousin Debbie looking on. She liked Danny at one time too!!!

My incredibly talented daughter made these for me with her embroidery machine. Embroidered E A T on the same toile fabric that I made the kitchen curtains from. Thank you!!

Dining room curtains

Toile dish detergent apron.

I had so much fun collecting all of this Blue Willow Ware last year!

I love the monkey soap dish!

Black transferware plates hung over the stove.

Rooster pics from a clearance sale at Joanne Fabrics

More willow ware on top of fridge

"If you want breakfast in bed, sleep in the kitchen" sign hangs in my room

My Sam Toft print hangs in the living room. I love camping trailers and I love Sam Toft. I thought this was appropriate for a vacation home. I also have the same print hanging in my bedroom at home ;-) with the rest of my Sam Toft collection

This is a pencil of The Alum Ridge Schoolhouse that still stands just a few miles from my home. Robin and I went to a yard sale at a house in the next county and there were sketches for sale. Of course I had to inquire about them........the artist was the man of the house who used to own a local restaurant that we frequented. He had been crippled in a motorcycle wreck and started drawing afterwards. Of course I had to have an original!!

Shabby table that really needs a shabby lamp!

My bathroom!

My bedroom curtains made from a $5 linen shower curtain!

Cool huh?

My bed with my ebay chenille bedspread.

I will get better pictures sometime and do some before and afters on my other blog. I still have some tweaking in most all the rooms.......not enough time in a day!!!!!

We all really did have a good time on our slumber party at the cabin. The weather was so frigid but we were toasty warm and had a change of pace that each of us needed. The kiddos are back to school tomorrow and everyone else back to work, including me. I have a big long list of to do's for myself!!!!!! I feel refreshed and less depressed so maybe I can get some of those things done now!! I hope you enjoyed your little tour.