New License!

Rod worked REALLY HARD for this.

He and his brother Scott spent a week

in a hotel room just outside Tampa.

They went to school every day

and did a TON of homework and studying

every night.

They took a gazillion practice tests.

They took notes.

They read.

They studied.

They wrote.

They didn't sleep much.

And HERE is what it got him!

I am SO proud of you darling!!!

(It allows him to sign off on airplane inspections)

He does those inspections, but has to get

somebody else to sign off on them.

No more!!!

WAY TO GO BABE!

Merry Christmas

As you may remember,

I have been banned from the garage.

Last night I got to find out part of the reason why.

I have a VERY talented husband and son.

That is a BEAUTIFUL kitchen table and bench.

We ate dinner with Jim and Sabrina on it

after watching Santa in Indialantic

and checking out the full moon on the beach.

(Kyle and Sabrina)

We had a fun evening together eating dinner

and exchanging gifts.

Lots of laughing and story telling.

and pink piggies to keep your piggies warm.

(Sabrina loves socks, slippers, all fuzzy things)

It was a wonderful Christmas Eve.

This morning was pretty laid back.

Rod got up and fed the animals.

I woke up around 8.

Kyle woke up around 8:30.

And then I got to see the other reason

I was banned from the garage.

(I understand I am the last person on planet Earth

to actually see these beauties!)

The edge wood looks greenish in this picture

but it isn't.  A beautiful dark pine.

I LOVE the oak inlays!

Especially since I know Kyle created

the wood panels himself from

an old oak tree we cut down earlier this year!

See!  You can tell these slats used

to be branches!

I especially love that you can see the 

saw blade swirls on the wood.

He did such a great job!

There are hidden treasure in the drawer and inside

the cabinet.

The grain on some of the wood

really popped when stained.

So beautiful!

It has been a lovely morning.

Full of love

family

and the smell

of fresh stain.

LOL

Merry Christmas!

They're Baaaaack

It's so fun to live on the "space coast".

We really really miss the shuttle.

But now and again somebody will launch something.

SpaceX has been working on getting

their rockets off the ground.

Had a bad experience in June.

But they are BAAAACK!

And not just a successful launch.

For the first time EVER

they took off,

launched 11 satellites

and then 

CAME BACK!

They took off and then they landed!

(watch the awesome 37 second video...)

It's a whole new world out there folks!

Winter Solstice

Today is Winter Solstice.

That means it's the first official

day of winter.

Florida didn't get the memo.

It's 74 now.

Feels like 80.

High for the day... 84.

I LOVE IT!

(But lots of people are wishing it would

cool off for Christmas...)

It was a real struggle.

I had to put on socks.

Meanwhile, in other news....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMMI!

Man Cave

It's been a LONG few days.

(Felt like a LOT of days...)

I left a week ago Friday evening to teach 

on the other coast.

Rod left Sunday evening to go to Tampa

to a school with his brother Scott.

They were gone ALL WEEK!

And Rod

PASSED!!!!!!

Woot Woot!

So it made not seeing him all week a little easier.

He took and passed his exam on Friday.

Didn't get home until 6.

I was packed and ready to go.

As soon as he came home, he got a 

hug, a kiss and a
"See you in a few days"

And away I went to South Fla to teach again.

When I FINALLY got back to my

loving husband late (11:30) last night,

this is what I saw in the driveway.

Here's a closer picture of the

"man door" into the garage.

And just in case I didn't get the message,

here's the door into the garage from the house.

I love Christmas!

LOL

Snow Globe a la Mode

I am shamelessly stealing this idea.

(OK, linking to it...)

Snowglobe a la Mode

It's a REAL gingerbread house in

teeny tiny miniature

inside a pretty glass glass

sitting on top of a scoop of

slightly melted ice cream.

SO CUTE!

And no.

I will not be making these.

The forecast for Christmas Day in Florida....

EIGHTY FIVE DEGREES!

Keys and IT IS CLEAN!

It's been a KILLER couple of days.

I got to spend the weekend on the other

coast (Ft Myers) substitute teaching.

The theme for the weekend was "keys".

The lady I was subbing for

forgot to send me her keys.

So I had to make arrangements to borrow

some from the guy (Leo) who works out of

that office.

His Dad was in town and staying

at my hotel, so it was super convenient

for him to drop them at the front desk.

Except he forgot.

So when I finally got into town he had to

go back to his office and get them and

bring them on over to me.

The next day at lunch I went out and

got some food, headed back to the office,

went into a little office to eat.

But then I grabbed my purse and headed

to the bathroom.

Pulled the door closed so nobody swiped my lunch.

When I got back,

the door was locked.

With my keys inside.

Sigh.

No problem.

Leo was coming back anyway.

But his keys didn't unlock that particular door.

Luckily I have a spare truck key in my purse.

But Leo had to come back AGAIN to lock up

that night.

(Since the office keys are in the locked room)

After I went out to dinner, I slipped by

the office, tracked down the security guy

and begged him to come rescue my keys.

HIS keys don't open that particular door.

So poor Leo had to come back AGAIN

and open the building at 7:30 in the morning.

While teaching,

I heard a vacuum.

CLEANING PEOPLE!

They have to have keys to EVERY door!

The poor guy didn't speak much English.

But we managed to communicate enough for

him to follow me to the office in question

and unlock the door.

YEA!!!!!

I'm subbing in West Palm Beach this weekend.

Yesterday I got a text from the lady I'm subbing for.

She promised to send me the keys.

FINGERS CROSSED!

Meanwhile.

Back at the ranch.

*********************************

This used to be CJ's stall.

This is CJ's NEW stall.

Notice the WIDE

OPEN

CLEAN

alley way!

Doesn't it look awesome???

Rod and Kyle worked super long and hard

and got the barn all cleaned up and organized.

Some day we are going to put concrete

in the center alley.

But for now,

 I LOVE IT!!!!!

Who Whistles to Opera?

I was following some links at work today.

I was doing "busy finger work" and needed

to keep my mind busy.

I ended up (long story)

on the Pioneer Day Concert

by the MoTabs and 

Temple Square Orchestra.

Pioneer Day Concert

(in case you want to see/hear)

Guest artists were Lindsey Sterling

and Nathan Pacheco.

He came out to sing a piece from a famous 

Italian opera.  (I didn't recognize it.)

(Being the HUGE Italian Opera fan that I am...)

But as I was listening...

I could TOTALLY see Dad sitting

in his arm chair in the living room,

listening to opera on the stereo

and whistling along.

(And eventually grabbing a well deserved nap)

What a GREAT (and I'll bet UNIQUE memory)

I don't know a bunch of people who

choose to listen to opera.

And I only know of ONE who whistles.

And I love him!

Turned a Corner (and other random stuff)

I have turned a corner.

I'm not a baker.

Or a cooker.

Or.. accomplished at anything in the kitchen.

I can cook.

But I'm easily bored.

It needs to be quick, easy, and yummy.

And quick.

And easy.

Since starting the Trim Healthy Mama

way of eating, I've been doing more

cooking and baking.

But it still needs to be

quick

easy

yummy.

But I'm disorganized.

I flirt with bulk cooking on the weekend.

But that violates the quick / easy thing.

So I don't do it often.

(Ok, once.)

But.

Last night I made one of my family's favorites.

Loaded Fauxtato Casserole.

(chicken, bacon, cauliflower, cheese in a 

yummy, quick, easy mayo / sour cream sauce).

AND

while that was cooking I actually thought ahead

and made a big pan of brown rice for tonight's

Cowboy Grub!

Woot!!!!

(We are having the missionaries over for dinner and

brown rice takes 40 minutes.  I just barely have

an hour to get home from work, make dinner and 

feed the animals.  The "guys" are on a strict schedule and 

have to be gone by 6:30)

I'm an adult!

Hahahahahahahahahahaha

Speaking of turning corners.

My truck (which I LOVE LOVE LOVE) is 

getting a little older and the window tint is

coming off and bubbling and getting icky.

So if I want to see out of my passenger windows

(like, you know, to turn a corner)

I have to open the windows.

Which is fine.

Unless it's raining.

Or cold.

(It is TOO cold in Florida in the morning...)

(Yes, I DO turn on the heat.)

(In August)

Or hot.

Or raining.

Anyhow.

Guess what I got for my birthday!!!!

NEW window tint!

Good thing they put that little sticker on there.

I nearly opened my windows 4 or 5 times

just on the way home last night!

LOL

THANK YOU

to the men in my life who take such good care of me!

(And my truck)

Also.

(More random stuff)

Introducing "Moon Pie"

(Moon pie has nothing whatsoever to do with

cow pies.  Just clarifying)

Here in the south, Moon Pies are a thing.

You know.

R.C. Cola and Moon Pies.

Not that I've ever had either of them.

Another One

We have lost control.

Whatever.

Introducing......

#698

She (yes, I lost the battle)

is only a couple of months old.

Smaller than "Sir"

But I'm sure they will be good friends.

He is Soooooo lonely.

698 is an angus/hereford cross.

The neighbor has an angus bull.

They want us to breed.

Lots of logistics in that...

but we don't need to cross that bridge

for at least a year.

In the meantime,

I can't wait to get home from work!

Welcome to the farm little girl!

*********************

Update:

Besties!

Pfffffffft!

(ha ha ha ha ha)

WE NEED IDEAS FOR A NAME!

(Since we will likely breed her and keep her for

a number of years, it's ok to actually name her...)

Spelling

On my way in to work this morning

I was thinking about mis-spellings.

No idea why.

But I was remembering some times

I have seen things spelled

incorrectly and the impact it had.

Years ago I followed a truck

and when the guy parked I actually

offered to re-sticker his rear window

for him!

He had a ceramic tile installation service.

Except it was spelled

CREAMIC TILE

You cremate your tiles?

Euuwwwww!

(unfortunately before the error was

noticed the stickers were applied and then

the entire window was covered with

sun film.  More than I could fix for him...

Poor guy!)

But my favorite was when Nancy and Reid

were first married and living in 

Edmonton.

Reid was doing his internship at the hospital

and Nancy was suffering through her first pregnancy.

(I am eternally grateful for AMAZING pregnancies!)

They lived across the street from the hospital

in housing filled with interns, nurses, etc.

When you looked out her window you got an

incredible view of the ... parking lot.

With all those folks, parking was at a premium

so they were only allowed to angle park.

Unfortunately, the sign said

"ANGEL PARKING ONLY"

A tiny bit creepy.

Or it's for nurses only, cuz we all

know those folks are angels!

SMILE!

Let YOUR sign say 

I'm HAPPY!

Thanksgiving

Here's hoping you had a great Thanksgiving!

We were VERY low key.

I didn't realize I had finally run through

my lifetime supply of turkey cooking bags.

(bought a million of them several years ago)

so had to make an old fashioned turkey.

Slathered it with butter and poultry seasoning

and roasted it low and slow.

Turned out great!

I'm thankful for my darling husband

who makes awesome

fruit salad!

I'll BE thankful when Kyle is done putting the

engine in his "new" old F150.

(Rod drove it back when the boys were little)

He "painted it" so it looks great!

A bucket full of eggs

and a yard full of chickens

horses

and a cow who is 

GROWING.

It was a beautiful day

and we enjoyed spending it

quietly resting around the

homestead.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Yesterday was a really nice day.

Thanks to NOT TELLING ANYBODY!

(grin)

Introverts.

We have social skills.

We just prefer to leave them home.

Family and Facebook friends

were very kind.

I just don't do the "office cake and card"

thing very well.

So kept it a secret at the office.

But speaking of the office,

Rod gave me a really awesome frame

and picture to put in my office.

Yes, my filing cabinet is a mess.

And yes, I have a phone.

But it's not plugged in.

(sshhhhh, it's a secret!)

He's my handsome cowboy!

And the Arizona group sent me new boots!

Ariat!

They make the BEST, most comfortable boots

in the whole world!

Yah, I look great.

It's after dinner.

Late.

I rubbed all my makeup off.

But I have AWESOME boots!

LOL

Thanks everybody for making it a nice day.

Brrr

It's finally fall here.

Woke up to 51.

Which might as well have been

12.

Yup.

It's well established I'm a pansy.

But it was BEAUTIFUL!

(Even though this was a couple of days ago)

This is out my front door.

Pretty, eh?

We are gearing up for Thanksgiving this week.

Gearing up means I haven't

grocery shopped yet.

Kyle has a very specific menu request.

Frozen sweet potato casserole from the store.

Stove Top stuffing from a box.

Yup.

That's it.

He actually doesn't like turkey.

So I'll be roasting a small bird

for Rod and I.

Making frozen sweet potato casserole

and Stove Top.

And some mashed cauliflower instead of

mashed potatoes because we all love that.

No green bean casserole.  (ICK!)

(Jim likes it, but he's going to Sabrina's Mom's

for dinner and I'm sure she'll have it on her table.)

EASY PEASY.

Which is my definition of a HOLIDAY!

Christmas? Already????

Full disclosure.

Hallmark channel has been showing Christmas

movies non-stop since Halloween.

Rod and I haven't moved from the couch.

Also the radio station is playing carols.

And I'm singing along.

At the office.

I know.

I'm going to be SICK TO DEATH of the

whole Christmas thing by December 10.

Except I won't.

The only thing I get sick of is the tree.

And it's because my house is not

designed to accommodate a tree.

And I refuse to get a tiny,

skinny, wimpy tree.

Our's isn't HUGE.

(It's smaller than the old one)

But it IS in the way.

All the time.

It's beautiful and I'm willing to

work around it.

For a while.

It's pushed up against the breakfast bar.

And right next to Rod is the end of

the couch.

So there is a one person wide

space to walk through.

Anyhow.

All that to say...

Sondra and I were talking about eggnog this morning.

I love eggnog.

I do NOT love store bought eggnog.

(Kyle, however, DOES - drinks it like water...)

Sondra made some homemade eggnog

37(ish) years ago.  (Might have been 38)

I will NEVER forget it.

Homemade.

Full of REAL eggs.

Full of REAL cream.

Full of REAL flavor.

YUM!

And this week I found a recipe that sounds

like her old recipe but "on plan".

So I sent it to her.

And we were discussing making it this morning.

But then we remembered it's not Thanksgiving

yet and we don't "do" eggnog until after

Thanksgiving.

Except Thanksgiving is going to be late again

this year and there's going to be a SUPER

short Christmas season.

So I'm starting early.

On the good stuff.

Maybe even eggnog.

Anyhow.

I found a really cool Facebook page.

It's was shared by my old Calgary

friend Sidona Goodridge.

It's called 

Merry Little Christmas

and is full of great pictures.

Like THIS one.

Isn't that awesome???

Have a Merry Little Christmas!

(And feel free to yell Bah Humbug until 

November 27th, when the Christmas Season

officially begins.)

Meet Sir Loin

We had a FUN and EXCITING day!

It started nice and early

at our friend's house

where we hooked up her truck

to her horse trailer and headed

up to a town called Dunnellon

in North Florida.

She had purchased two darling

little heifer calves and

we were there to pick

them up.

Aren't they adorable???

These are the same friends we 

went with earlier this year

when they sold their cows.

Once they were sold,

they realized they missed having

cows in the pasture!

So...

today we remedied that.

And...

as long as we were up there,

we decided to pick up

this little guy.

Meet

Sir Loin

Isn't he cute?

He is a little Florida Cracker bull.

Well, he was a bull.

But after we agreed to buy him,

he became a steer.

He seems to be settling in.

We are going to put our little

Florida Cracker pony in with him.

I think they'll be good buddies.

Now we just need to get the dogs

to accept that he's not going to eat them.

MIB or Secret Service

He says Secret Service.

I say MIB

What say YOU?