An Awesome Potter

Just so you didn't catch the website for my friend who is a potter I will list it again here. Please check it out. Not that she needs the business, They are worrying about how to ever retire, they keep so busy and it is not the kind of business that you just sell or pass on to the kids, unless they have the talent.

ironandlace.com

Go there!! and you will learn why the iron and the lace. Sort of gives me chills.

back from Ia.

What a great weekend!! Brother and I drove up to Ia. on Sat to go to he high school alumni. Man what a room full of gray headed people. Not many there from my class as it was an in between year. Brother had a good time as there were 28 from his class. Got to go to the historic village of Bentonsport on Sun. and hung out with an "old" friend that I grew up with. There was a weekend craft show going on so ran into other people that I knew. My friend and her husband have a place called Iron and Lace, She is a potter and he is a blacksmith. They are the real thing and do wonderful work. Came back on Sun. Rained off and on but was a safe drive and good time for a road trip with little brother.

Go to Betty's web site and see what wonderful stuff she does, oh, and
Bill too! ironandlace.com You won't be sorry.

Holiday Weeked

I rarely travel over a holiday but my brother and I are leaving Sat AM and headed to Ia. to spend the weekend. It is his class reunion and I am going with him, then visit some family, and on Sun there is a festival thing at a local little town that should be fun. And will probably meet folks I know, music, crafts, and friends, can't beat that.

Big sister just got out of the hospital this week after going in to have a large "lump" removed from her inner thigh. It had started out as a marble size lump about 10 weeks ago and had gotten larger, I guess about orange size, and was quite painful. Everyone was surprised to find that it is malignant. She says they are sending the pathology to Mayo Clinic for testing as it is something rather rare. So we won't know for a week or so what the outcome of the tests and treatment plan will be.

Other big sister is getting ready to move down from KC this next week. So it will be good to have almost all of us living locally. Only big brother is still in NC.

I think I have mentioned that I have been selling books on e-bay. Usually I have done pretty good. Have sent 3 packages to Canada and had charged an extra fee for that. Well with all the new postal rates and all, I sent out a package with 8 hard back books, and it had to go priority mail {anything over 4#} Ended up the books that I sold for 25$ {which was a low bid to start with}plus 16$ for shipping, ended up costing me 30.50$ to ship!!! Guess I won't be shipping out of the country again.
I order books for people and it is outragous. I order a book for 50cents, then it is 3.99 for shipping. Then I have to charge a little fee for ordering and paying for the book on my account. So the customer ends up paying close to 7.00 for the book. But guess if it is something they really want they don't care.

Oh, and hubby got home Mon. Gee I almost forgot. Oops. Glad to have him home safe and sound. Now he can get in on this yard mowing thing! I was needing some help here. But life is good. Will post some pictures of my flower bed later, things are sure growing nice. Have a good weekend and be safe.

What's the Book Lady reading now?

Just finished reading a great book. I am into Nicholas Evans book The Smoke Jumper. What a good read. Of course its about these Montana fire fighters, about friendship, honor, bravery, and love. This was my book store read, so at home I am about to finish up the third Odd Thomas book by Dean Koontz, This one is called Brother Odd. I have enjoyed this series and think there is another one to come.
Before this I read Koontz book, Seize the Nnight, which I found out was the second of a set so now have to find the first one, Fear Nothing. They are about a guy that has a genetic disorder that prevents him from being in any light,called xeroderma pigmentosum. So he lives by the night and near his town is an abandoned military base that had been doing experiments and people are "changing". A fun book to read.

Hubby will be home on Mon. Wow, can't believe its been 7 weeks and was only to be 3. SIL is doing well at home and follow up Dr. apts are good. She she will continue to get PT and OT at home for awhile and a bath aide till she can safely shower alone. Looks like she will be getting moved in about 2 months. So crossing my fingers that nothing else happens.

Neighbor put in a cross fence with and electric webbing that is new to me and has let her neighbor across from her put her 2 horses and mini donkey in the small pasture that she has fenced off. It borders onto our fence where our donkeys and horse live. What a little rodeo watching them get acquainted. The little donkey is older than Flossy but much smaller as he is a miniature and he is very vocal. Has a very different bray than ours. And so darn cute. My horse thinks he is a wind up toy as he puts his head over the fence and noses his back, like "where's the Key?"
Will take some pictures this weekend. Have a good weekend.

The Four Agreements

I am at a little of a loss for personal words so wanted to share something I believe is very important. If you want to check out this site. I read this wonderful little book a couple years ago. The Four Agreements and I just love the message. So just want to share today. The one that hits home from me the most is no. 2 Thanks for peeping today!

http://miguelruiz.com/

The Four AgreementsTM

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1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don't Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don't Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

A pinch of this and a dab of that

Well, just when you think there is a plan things happen to make changes for you. As posted previously, we were going to put SIL on a plane the 21st and movers scheduled again for the 23rd and then hubby could come home. WELL, now the plan is that she will get out of the rehab hosp this Sat. Hubby will stay there one week, and she is staying for 90 days. Then he will have to drive back again and move her by the first of Sept. It really makes sense, she can get her rehab at home and continue to gain strength and mobility and follow up with her doctors there. She is a very determined little old lady and I think is wearing the therapists out!
Hubby is sure ready to come home. But next week he can get her stocked up on supplies she needs, they had about cleaned her freezer out. She has a couple friends who will check on her daily and will be getting an alert "I have fallen and can't get up" braclet to wear. Her house there is safer for her at this point, level access to back yard. In the mean time she has some work on the sunroom on her house here that can be completed before she gets here and it will also make it easier to go out into the back yard for her. So I think it will all work out.

In the mean time, I have been working on a surprise for hubby. The carpenter has been back to work at the house and the new kitchen counter, sink and faucets are going in as I type. Yippy. Really the surprise if for ME. Will post a picture when done. Ever see a black sink? At least it won't show coffee stains, right?

Got 1 1/2 in of rain last nite and lots of thunder. Having a city wide garage sale Fri and Sat. Been sorting out books to put out on a table in front of the store to sell for 25 cents. Maybe it won't get rained out. Sure have had a wet spring. Hay is getting tall. Will need baled about the time we can get dried out enough.

Well enough rattling on and on. Probably lost most of you back there after the first few lines, but I don't care, cause this is MY blog. Right??

Little Hummer

About Hummingbirds!

Just want to report something I heard on the news. With the freeze we got this spring in the midwest, there are going to be fewer natural flowers for our little humming birds. So folks get those feeders out if you haven't already. I have at least 15 to 20 buzzing around my 2 feeders. They are such a delight to watch.

I am sharing the info on mixing your own food for them. saves alot of money.

To each cup of water add 1/4 cup of white table sugar. Stir in a pan and bring to a boil. {boiling helps to slow fermentation}. allow the sugar solution to cool before filling your feeder. Extra nectar should be stored in the refrigerator. Do NOT use honey. Do NOT use any dye or coloring.

The little guys will find you. Poor things have been flitting around my xmas lights. NO we don't have them down yet! But what the heck, had company over the weekend and we turned them on and called them PARTY Lights! Worked for me.

HoHum

Have been busy and not very inspired to write much. So just an update, SIL is still in rehab and working hard. Hope to get her out and to her home in a few more days. Then they can get the movers reschedule, and get a flight booked for her. Don't know if I mentioned, she has a friend who says she will fly back with her, then turn around and fly back home, same day. I thought maybe I could do that but it would make me a long day and driving home from the airport at midnight, over 2 hrs. If this other gal will do it, that would be great. Hubby is getting tired of being stuck in Carson City. Besides I miss him.
Had 2 good days to mow the yard and beyond so that is caught up, but with all the rain this week looks like I will be back at it next weekend. Put some tomato plants out and have flowers set out.
Had a creepy guy in the store today. He stopped in trying to sell me some books. Seems he used to have a book store, well I ended up hearing his life story. Kids worthless, in prison, on probation, or addicts. He lives on disability himself and looking for more help for himself. You know we need more good citizens like him. He must have weighed in at least at 300#, complained about his 500$ mo. payments on a honking big truck that had a tonto cover and he had a bunch of books in the back. I was pretty glad when he left. Besides my coffee had gotten cold!

Update on SIL condition

Well she made it thru surg. with hip pinning and blood transfusions OK. That was on Mon. By Wed they got her off the morphine and started PT and OT. On Thurs was moved into a rehab floor of the hosp. and working on how to dress herself with the bum leg and getting up and down to the bathroom. Guess the plan is to stay for about a week in rehab and then home. I hear she is giving the hosp staff hell, thats my SIL. They will be glad to be rid of her, LOL. so we will see how she is doing by the first of next week then see about an airline ticket and get a date set for the movers again. My gut feeling is that as soon as she is moving around some she will try to talk herself into the drive instead of airplane. But hopefully the Dr. will nix that for her. I am finding her a Dr. here to take her care and will set up home PT for her. She is still worried about all the trouble she is causing us and how I am having to manage alone. Heck, I always like my alone time. I am not complaining. Only complaint was when that donkey stepped on my toe and I had to hobble out to do chores. But it is pretty much OK now.

Looks like a great weekend coming up. The grass is about 6 inches tall or more with all the rains. So I will be on the mower alot to catch it up. But I don't mind. I would rather work outside and inside any day of the week. Got tomatoe plants to set out and have some baby dogwood trees that I got a week ago free from the fish hatchery near by, so guess I will find a place to get them set out.

Have a wonderful weekend. And remember Today is a Gift, thats why they call it the Present.

In the blink of an eye!

Wow, how we take life for granted. Really in a blink of an eye everything can change. Hubby and his sister were in the last 2 days of packing up for her move back here. Movers scheduled for Wed, the 25th. Mon. they went out to breakfast and went to the store top pick up a couple things. Bebo {sister} turned to greet someone and her hip gave way and down she went. Ended up she had fractured the long bone, femur, up near the hip socket. Alot of pain, she is 83 and a tiny 90 lb. person. Paramedics had to give her 2 shots of morphine before they could move her. They did surg. later in the day top put a rod in the bone and a plate and screw to secure the fracture. At 83 she has never been hospitalized, or had any surgery before. But she made it thru OK. Plan is to have her in rehab in the next couple days. That is expected to take 2 weeks to get her up and going with a walker. She hates to fly but right now we are thinking that will be the best way to get her back here. Hubby will drive and manage her 2 little dogs. Oh, and they are spoiled rotten dogs too. He can manage better with just the dogs and not her with a walker for 4 days driving. So I am hubbyless for 2 to 3 weeks more. Her biggest worry was for me, having to manage without hubby. Well that and her dogs. Ha Ha. My biggest concern is for my poor hubby having to deal with all this by himself. But he will manage and they will get her moved soon.

Moral of this lesson, Don't take life to serious, things can happen in the blink of an eye that can mess up YOUR plans.

Had a nice 1/2 inch rain last p.m. that came down in about 15 minutes. Afraid the grass is getting ahead of me. Will have to start mowing a little at a time each day between rains. dc

Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about

I know Rosie is very controversial but I do have to agree with her today. She said that the guy who shot all the kids at the college should not be getting all this air time even showing his home videos of himself. Isn't this just what he wanted? So now we are playing into his fantasy and giving him his fame he sought. So Sad. This is a crazy world we live in now isn't it. Now if someone ticks you off on the highway or store you are afraid to speak up. Even when they are young. I have had minor run ins with teen agers and you let them intimidate you, and just back off when you really want to get in their face. Well again it is so sad when the world can offer so much joy and happiness. Maybe in 100 years we will look back and see what a troubled time this was. Lets hope we are still here in 100 years. I plan to be, how about you??

Aky Braky Toe!!

Oh, my toe hurts. While doing chores last nite the donkeys crowded me and I thought I had pushed Momma, Jenny over far enough to get past her and all she did was shift her feet and one came down on my little toe thru tennis shoes. OUCH. I am sure the neighbors up the hill heard me moan. It burned like fire. I am pretty sure it is broken. Mostly only hurts when I flex it like walking. So here I go trying to get out and do chores and walking with these tiny steps so I don't flex the toes on the right foot. Ohhhhhhhhh I hate to be laid up, to much stuff to do!! Oh, yea while I am complaining have a big bruise on my leg just below the knee where I hit it on the trailer hitch. OK I have complained enough for today. Got stuff to do!

One nice thing about egotists: they don't talk about other people.

My 10$ sewing table.

Why do I have to come to work to rest??

My weekend is Sun and Mon. Sun. I spent most of the day at my SIL's house helping get it ready for her to get moved back into later this mo. I vacumed so the carpet cleaners can come next week, mopped the BR and kitchen. Have a carpenter coming in to re-caulk the floor tiles, and re-do the dryer vent. Some yo-yo had vented it into the garage. The painting is all done. Not exactly happy with his work, if I had the time, I could have done every bit as good a job. I paid him a little extra to have his kids rake the yard and bag up the leaves, granted there was alot but the job is not finished so just said to heck with it. When you want something done it is usually best to just do it yourself. So will finish up that job after work today.
On Mon. went to Ar. to visit with daughter, and went "shopping". Ended up back in Mo and went to the local college that was having a book sale and got some more nice nearly new ones there.
On Sun. I stopped at a garage sale and got a cute little sewing table with a chair in nice shape. wooden too. for 10$ Gave the chair to my grand daughter and brought the table into the store. Lets see I also took a dresser and coffee table and end table to the daughter and brought home a kitchen cabinet to repair for her.
It needs alot of TLC. She was about to throw it out, I said let me fix it. so did some work on it last nite, glues some strips around the bottom, tightened up alot of screws. Sanded the drawers and so far have 3 coats of bright yellow pain on them. It will be useable and clean when I am done. So now I have her cabinet held hostage till she comes up next week to pick it up! There is a method to my madness.

Hubby still in Nv. All is well at the farm. Over 2 inches of rain last week, hope the freezing at night is over. I brought home several free dogwood trees from the fish hatchery Sat. Would like to see the trees and shrubs that got leaves frozen off have a chance to leaf out again. Maybe I can stay home next weekend and do some things for myself that I have planned. Sort of spring cleaning projects!

Big Sis

HAPPY BURFDAY, SISTA!!

So I have to be a little crazy on this one. My big sister is having a birthday today so want to acknowledge her as it is a biggy! Oops. Should I have given that away? Well I dug around and found this picture of her to post. It is when she was young, innocent, and sexy, Well 1 out of 3 ain't bad. Do I see boobs there? Happy Birthday big sister, Glad you are in my life! Oh, I promise no more relatives have birthdays any time soon. Well ther is my son in May. :) :)

My Easter Bunny

My weekend

The picture is of an Easter Bunny that came across the highway to greet me Sat. at the store. He never said a word. Don't bunnies Talk??

What a busy weekend. Did some things Sun afternoon to get the house ready that Hubby's sister will be moving into at the end of the Mo. Took a twin bed over so she will have a place to sleep while waiting on the movers. The painter is about finished up at the house and had extra paint that we took back to the store. Then we went home and started mowing and raking. The freeze this last week did quit a bit of damage to tender leaves.
On Mon. finished mowing and got the horse and donkeys hooves trimmed up. Wish I had taken a video of Flossy getting her hooves done. Last fall they just sat on her to do it as she was pretty small yet. Those little hooves really grow out fast on those babies. But this time she needed a little man handling. The guy had to put a nose cinch on her. Hated to see it but it calmed her down and he got the job done as we could not hold her. He made a loop out of the lead rope and slipped it thru the halter and over her nose so when she pulled she squeezed her nose and had trouble breathing. Sounds cruel but it is effective. Sampson the horse was worried about her as she is his "baby" and he kept coming up close to see if she was OK.
The horse and the adult donkeys are real easy to do and stand still just fine. So I guess I better get busy with a little more training with Miss Flossy. He suggested I start tying her to the post with the lead rope and let her stand for an hour or 2, to learn what being tied means. I have a short video of her eating spaghetti that I will have to post one of these days.

Took Hubby to the airport real early this morning. Like 3AM. He had an early flight to Nv. and we are over 2 hrs from the airport. So he will be in Nv. helping get his sis packed up and drive her back.

Yippy so that means I am footloose now!! Ha, I have several work projects to get started on, so will keep busy, nothing like last time he left town, unless the carpenter gets time to start my kitchen counter top. hmmmmmmmm....:) :)

Happy Birthday Brother