Meet Katie

Isn't she the sweetest thing? We're all pretty smitten with her.

June....please come back

Somehow June slipped by too fast. I love June. The weather is usually just right...warm and only slightly muggy. Unfortunately we went from a cool May (froze at graduation) to July in less than 24 hours. I walk outside my house and it is a sauna. Georgia summers at their finest. This is the time of year when the only trips I want to make is either the lake or to my parents' home (they live at a higher elevation). I hate coming "down" out of the mountains. The temperature is always a few degrees higher and the humidity is oppressive. So what happened around here in June?

Not much.

All those projects I had lined up are still waiting. I did manage to purge my kitchen of an embarrassing amount of mismatched plastic. Bob installed some nifty cabinet drawer thingys (sp?) that are WONDERFUL! Love them, wish I had sucked it up and bought them years ago...

I finally went to Home Depot, bought a can of spray paint, and spray painted the greenhouse lights that have been sitting in my storage room for four years. I'll post pictures later on. Let me just say that Oiled Bronze spray paint is awesome. The results were very good.

This guy turned 19. I was a newlywed at 19. Now I understand why my dad isn't smiling in any of my wedding photos. 19. I can't believe I have a 19 year old. I can't believe I thought I was so "mature" at 19. I thought Bob, who was 23, was really old and mature :-)

These two guys celebrated their 2nd birthday in June. I'd forgotten how precious a two year old can be. They are so funny. You should hear them say "Bob." It is absolutely adorable. My brother and sister-in-law will be the first to tell you that they are blessed.

I got my summer haircut. A couple of days before I went in to get it cut, I ran into a lady I work with. She commented on how good my hair looked that day. I thanked her for the compliment. Then she went on to explain why my hair looked so much better....it was nice and rounded at the crown, not flat and out of shape. Which made me wonder how many days did I show up at work with a flat crown? Obviously too many :( She then suggested that I take pictures to my hairdresser to avoid future flat crowns.

So, here is my "shapely rounded crown" self-portrait. Please note that I have been working with Photoshop this summer. It is an amazing program. I can erase wrinkles, brighten eyes, and add sparkle to lips. Now I need to figure out how to straighten a crooked nose....

All this to say...there is a reason June slipped by so fast. I think this picture pretty much sums up our June.

This week...

This week is kicking my rear-end.

End of year standardized testing (thank you NCLB- you big stupid piece of legislation), graduation commitments, a graduation party to plan for, a house that refuses to clean itself, and a laundry pile that seems to grow overnight.

Two more days with students, lots of cooking today after school, graduation cards/presents to purchase, and a million little errands to run.

Top it all off with a possible move at work....which means boxing up all my stuff and moving classrooms....again.

Fun times people....fun times :-)

A Spring Evening....

I'm sitting outside enjoying the spring weather while watching the chickens scratch around the backyard. I love this time of the day....

Finally...Spring Break

No out-of-town trips this year. Everyone is just too tired to plan even a camping trip. Besides, I've had a to-do list running through my head for the past month just waiting for this week.

Spring break To-Do List:

CLEAN this house. The dust and cobwebs have got to go. The windows need to be washed and the porches readied for summer.

PAINT....I got a sweet deal on a set of end tables/coffee table this winter. I love the simple style but not the color. I'm thinking of painting them barn red. I have an old dresser in the mudroom that I want to paint Apple Green.

I salvaged a cool set of light fixtures from the old greenhouse at school. I need to clean them up, spray paint them, and get Bob to hang them on the front porch.

I have plans for the old 1980's ceiling fan in the living room.

I need to clean out the flower beds and transplant almost everything.

I want to get the vegetable garden tilled and ready.

I hope to visit the local nursery to look for more fruit trees.

That's the list and knowing me....I won't get a single thing accomplished :-)

A Frivolous Project

Bob is building a walkway to the chicken coop. He described it as a frivolous project....basically a reason to get outside and DO something. We could live without the walkway but why not? Landscaping timbers were on sale and we need an area to move all the daylilies and irises that will be divided this spring.

He does good work.

An evening with Dr. Goodall

Last night I went with a good friend to hear Jane Goodall speak at a local college. What an opportunity.

She talked for over an hour about her work in Africa with the chimpanzees and her world wide conservation efforts. It was a delightful evening and one I won't ever forget.

The new girls in town

We took a trip to a local feed store to buy replacements for the hens that we've lost this winter. The plan was to buy younger chicks because they are cheaper. They were out of baby chicks but they had these girls. At first the price seemed a little steep. However, the salesman pointed out that feeding young chicks for 6 months would equal the cost of buying these girls. Plus, he offered us a discount.

I miss my Araucana hen. She laid the prettiest greenish blue eggs. The first order of business was to bring home another Araucana. We brought home two.

We also replaced the dependable Buff Orpington. She is a sweetheart. She is calm and doesn't mind being held.

Poor things haven't been out of a cage since they hatched. They are still trying to figure out the pecking order of the pen and tend to stay hidden inside the roost. They'll eventually get settled and we'll start letting them out to scratch around the yard.

A Snow Day Project

Three extra days at home means the laundry pile returns to a manageable level, the dust is gone for a day or so, and I get to sit down and catch my breath.

At some point my eyes strayed to the fabric stash. A few hours later.... new pillows for my bed.

For you Sandy...

I finally gathered up all the pictures and hung them on the wall. This shot is from below...I wanted to show off the new stair treads that Bob built.

Looking down the stairs. I framed the family portrait from Grandma & Grandpa Stewart's 50th Anniversary. I'm going to add it to the wall tomorrow.
The Living Room wall. The clock you gave me for Christmas was perfect.

I'll eventually add more black and white photos to this wall. It may be another three years before I get around to it but it will happen... someday.

More New Orleans pics

I'm posting a few more pictures from our mission trip to New 

Orleans.

(Clink on the links for a little more info about the mission trip)

A few houses in the neighborhood have been remodeled since our last visit.  However, most of the houses are still in desperate need of repair.

I love the bright colors.  

Absolutely love the kids that came to the summer day camp.

Smiles,

smiles,

and more smiles.  

Here are a few guys showing off their sock puppets.  

Yeah!  Drywall.  What a difference it makes.

The archway in the front room.  We painted it to match the colors on the front porch.

I wish I had taken more pictures but we were so busy that I didn't take the time.  

Now I know why they are called DEVILed Eggs

I've invited my family and a couple of neighbors to spend Christmas Eve at my house.  I thought I would make a variety of finger foods for everyone to munch on while we visit.  Deviled eggs were on my list.  My hens have been laying very nicely and I have an over abundance of eggs right now. I don't eat deviled eggs but I didn't think  it could be too terribly difficult to make a batch.  It would be an easy dish to make ahead.  So I browsed the internet for a recipe and got to work.

After an afternoon of battling the eggs, I know now why they are called DEVILed eggs.

I boiled the eggs and peeled them.  So far, so good.  I mixed up the ingredients and tried a bite.  I've never ate a deviled egg but they seemed OK.  THEN I got the bright (stupid) idea to fancy up my deviled eggs.  I pulled out my cake decorating kit and set out to pipe the filling with a pretty cake decorating tip.  I loaded up my bag, taking care to fold down the bag so I wouldn't make a mess (you'll understand the irony of this futile act in a few seconds), and proceeded to pipe the filling.  Didn't work. I had forgotten about adding relish to the filling and it clogged up the tip.  I wasn't defeated yet.  By golly, I was going to have pretty deviled eggs for my guests.  I grabbed another bag and chose a tip with a larger opening.  I started to pipe. I managed to get two eggs filled when the tip clogged again.  No problem, I just applied more pressure.  Everything was going smoothly until the pastry bag literally ripped apart and filling went everywhere.  

That's when it occurred to me that deviled eggs deserved their name.

Tired....

This time last year I barely had the energy to decorate the Christmas tree.  The THOUGHT of dragging out everything literally wore me out.  Not to mention the fact that at some point it would  all have to be packed back up.  I was exhausted.  All I could think about was sleeping.  I finally went to the doctor in January and tested positive for the Epstein-Barr virus.  I had a rip-roaring case of mono.  I suspect I picked it up on a mission trip to New Orleans.  

I would come home and crash on the couch for two or more hours.  I remember thinking one day that even my bones were exhausted.  I'm not sure how I managed to go to work everyday, cook, run errands, and keep the house running.  When I came home, all I could think about was somehow making it to 9 PM so I could go to bed.  

I feel better.  Somedays I am actually surprised by that.  I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to not be sick and tired.  I'll catch myself looking at the clock and realize that it is after 9 PM and I still feel human.  When I get tired (normal tired),  I find myself fighting  a sense of panic that the mono has returned.  It hasn't, and I'm thankful.