New Furniture Part 1

Rod and I picked out some beautiful

new brown leather furniture

to give each other for Christmas this year.

A 3 person couch with recliners

on each end,

and a single chair with an

ELECTRIC recliner!

(The manual one was a rocker too

and just didn't feel very sturdy.)

The chair was on back order,

so we moved the delivery to today

so we could get all of it together.

Then last week I got a call that

the chair was still on back order

and wouldn't be here until the first

week in January.

But the couch was still on schedule.

Well, ok, we can work with that.

But first we needed to do some

"minor" repairs to the wall

where our current recliners

have chewed it up.

I'm so lucky to be married to a man who

knows how to do EVERYTHING

and doesn't grumble when I ask him to do stuff.

We bought some hole filler stuff

that goes on pink and turns white 

when it dries.

There was quite a bit of damage.

Next he bought some spray on stuff

that ends up looking like the orange peel

the rest of the walls were done in.

He sprayed it on

(but I didn't take a picture)

and then when it was dry,

he painted it.

Presto!

Perfection!

And just in time for the new furniture!

Which didn't come.

Sigh.

The truck was full, so they didn't load our couch.

(It comes from the factory to the store

in Orlando and then they send one truck

per week to our local store...)

I called this afternoon to confirm we

could come over and pick it up.

And that's when I found out it wasn't coming.

So the bad news is we don't have 

our new furniture yet.

But the good news is we will

(fingers crossed)

get the couch and chair together

on January 3.

Which still gives us time for my

darling (and long suffering)

husband to climb into the attic

and moving the cable wires to the opposite

wall so we can spin the living room around.

We are going to try putting the TV on the wall

the couch used to be on.

And putting the couch on the wall the TV was on.

We have a large TV.

When I'm standing in the kitchen,

looking over the breakfast bar

into the living room,

all I can see is the back of a big black TV.

So I'm kind of looking forward to this.

But first we are going to see if it even works.

I'm kind of afraid the sun might come in

through the french doors and put a

big ol' glare on it making it unworkable.

But we'll see.

We have a week to mess with it.

Memory Lane

Quick double post.

I was checking a friend's blog

and she posted this.

How many of these do you remember?

How many did you have????

Old Toys Pinterest Page

Check it out!

It's Christmas!

We have always done a pretty unconventional 

Christmas Day celebration.

We just aren't "that" family.

But we always enjoy it.

And this year was no different.

We went to see Santa in Indialantic

on Christmas Eve as has been our

tradition for 37 years.

(We went the year BEFORE we were married too!)

Our neighbor told us about a street

that "does it UP" every Christmas Eve

so we drove over there to see that as well.

Goodness!

It's a culdesac (sp) and entire

street decorates,

puts their little fire dishes out

on the driveway,

some of them have snacks,

there was a couple of houses

with live music,

and there were a LOT of people

just walking the street enjoying

the beautiful evening and all the lights.

It was like a Hallmark movie!

LOL

(We didn't really know what we were

doing, so we drove, along with some

other people, but next year

I would like to find a place to park

{good luck}

and walk with the rest of the folks.)

Back to the house to enjoy some

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice soup

(pressure cooker - ready in 20 minutes

but tasted like it simmered all day)

and cheese and crackers etc

thanks to Mom & Dad's lovely gift!

Then off to bed for a decent night's sleep.

And NO little kids jumping on the bed

at 5:30 wanting to see Santa!

In fact, Rod slept in until about 6!

Maybe.

I don't know.

I didn't wake up until... 8:30? 9:00?

We had a nice breakfast

(eggs and bacon)

and Kyle headed next door to do some

land clearing.

The man can't stand to just sit around.

Before

Mid Process

He's amazing with his cat!

Rod and I rode over on the horses a little later

to check on his progress.

We have an active mountain bike (ha!)

club that use the trails.

One lady likes to decorate this tree,

and really did it up fancy for Christmas.

Added a life size person!

SCARED THE HORSES TO BITS!

Andy stepped on something (I think)

and ended up lame in his front right foot

so we cut our ride short and headed

back home to put the turkey 

in the oven.

Meanwhile,

Jim was doing some sunrise kayak fishing

with a couple of friends.

They caught a giant fish.

It was fun,

but he said the fish wasn't his favorite kind.

(OK, he said it was gross...  lol)

Jim and Sabrina

came over around 4:30,

Jim and I took the 4-wheeler over to

check on Kyle and bring him home

while Rod and Sabrina made the

sweet potato casserole.

Dinner was really nice,

I didn't even turn the oven off in the middle

of cooking, so the turkey was done

when I wanted it to be.

We bought a Butterball this time.

(They were on sale)

I'm going back to the cheap WalMart birds.

It didn't have a pop up button

and no gravy mix!

Sheesh!

After dinner we moved to the living

room and exchanged gifts.

Well, I "opened" my gift from Rod

in the morning.

I couldn't wait.

He bought and installed a beautiful

new screen front door!!!!!

Our old door was big and bulky

black fake wrought iron.

Rusty, missing all the panels on the bottom

(so sometimes the dogs sneak in)

(along with not keeping out any of the bugs)

so I was excited!!!

It's a beautiful door with a screen in

the top half that rolls up into the frame

so when the glass is up it's clear.

AWESOME!!!!!!

It lets in so much light

and fresh air!

(And NO bugs!)

It was a nice evening.

Sabrina made some peanut butter cookies

for all of us to share

and we sat and Jim entertained the guys

with You Tubes he had found 

about teeny tiny engines.

(???)

I had made Rod a t-shirt bag with

some beef jerky and a knit blanket

and called it a Plasma Donation Survival Kit.

He donates plasma a couple times each week

and said he nearly freezes to death.

And it's always good to have a quick

protein snack before donating

so the jerky will come in handy.

We decided the blanket wasn't big enough

and I had 2 more skeins of yarn,

so while they watched tiny engines,

I knit.

I also gave Rod a new telescope

so he and Kyle got it out and got it all

set up and found the moon and

had a great time messing with it!

Then they headed to bed

and I stayed up and finished his blanket

(about 2:30) since he was scheduled to donate

again today.

Which brings us to the close

of the day.

It was a lovely,

family filled,

wonderful,

eventful

but quiet

celebration of love and family

and all that is important.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Goodies

Look what arrived yesterday!!!

A beautiful Harry & David basket 

full of all sorts of yummy things!

It said to unpack the fruit.

So I dutifully did.

And it said how to know if the pears were ripe.

And they were.

So I ate one.

It made a wonderful lunch!

I only ate one.

There are plenty left for the rest of my family.

Unless they don't read my blog.

LOL

There were also lots of other yummy goodies included.

Crackers, cheese, nuts, meat,

and one of my favorite things.

Pepper and onion preserves!

I can't wait to give that a try!

But I'm dutifully waiting for my darling husband.

(Kyle isn't a big fan of hot stuff...)

(Lucky me!)

A friend served us some sharp white cheddar cheese

a couple of months ago and I have been

diligently searching for more.

And presto!

There it is!

This is going to be a yummy Christmas Eve!

Thanks Mom and Dad!

It's a wonderful gift!

Love you!

Visitors

We had our good friends

over yesterday afternoon.

Linda's entire family is in town.

Her oldest daughter has 3 little kids.

2 boys and 1 little girl.

Her next oldest daughter just graduated

from Agricultural college in Logan

and she and her husband are expecting #1.

Her youngest daughter and her husband

are just figuring out the married thing

and are a super cute little couple.

The older boys are in town,

but one just had a baby

so they stayed home to recharge.

We tacked up Andy and CJ.

Put a little saddle on Andy and Rod's

big beautiful saddle on CJ.

The little kids rode Andy for a bit

while the Aunts and Uncles took turns

leading them around the property.

The Aunts and Uncles took turns taking

the kids on "real rides" on CJ.

Little Jade is INTENSE in everything she does.

This is her thrilled face.

LOL

The boys discovered an egg and then the hunt was on.

They had a wonderful time collecting eggs.

I'm not sure I'll get any eggs today though.

The girls were TOTALLY traumatized.

There were 3 little kids and several adults

in their chicken coop right at roosting time

and the chickens went NUTS!

Poor girls.

The folks all had a good time.

And Grandma was happy they were well worn out

and likely to sleep well.

(And was also happy I broke out the hand sanitizer

for everybody before they got back in her vehicle...)

And Linda found the PERFECT Christmas gift

for Kyle.

(He has spent the past 5 months 

cutting down trees on her property and

changing it from wild land into cow pasture.)

Nice day all around!

Story Worth

I've really gotten lax on the Story Worth posts.

This week the prompt was

What simple pleasure do you truly enjoy?

Ha!

My entire life is simple pleasures

and I truly enjoy all of them.

Sleeping in!

What a luxury!

Getting to spend time with each

of my animals each morning as I

greet them and feed them their breakfast.

Not the chickens so much,

but I do take a moment to wish them

a good morning and give them a gentle

reminder to LAY AN EGG TODAY!

I have been getting over a bad cold

and I finally can take a full breath of air

without feeling like I have a puppy

laying on my chest.

So I went out to my patio and

did a quick 15 minute workout.

What a treat!

I feel so much better when I stretch

and twist and bend my body.

Next I get to walk out to my barn and

send the horses out to the pasture to eat

their hay and munch on the winter grass.

Each one gets a gentle pat or rub as he

walks by - sometimes they even rub back.

And then it's into the garage to let the

dogs out of their crates *they get in 

for feeding and sleeping*

and sending them to the dog yard for the day.

There is NOTHING gentle or serene about

THAT process.

They all run and jump and nip each other

(and sometimes forget I'm not one of them)

so it's quite the rowdy chaotic scene.

But I still enjoy it.

Mostly.

And then in for a shower.

Whew!

And a breakfast.

This morning I'm thinking I'll have

a protein drink with some baobab powder

(got to keep that Vitamin C strong in my body)

and maybe I'll whip up a couple of 

pieces of french toast using

egg whites and sprouted wheat bread

and LOTS of vanilla and cinnamon.

That sounds YUMMY!

Especially after a weekend of

McDonalds sausage burritos.

I take Mondays pretty easy, especially

after my LONG weekend.

I didn't finish with students until 9:30 

last night and then there was still the

drive back up the highway to get to home.

I had a nice new book to listen to though

so the drive went quickly.

I even sat at the gate for a minute or two

because I couldn't bear to turn off the story

right at that point!

(David Baldacci The Finisher - SciFi Fantasy)

So today I'll sweep the floors,

tidy the kitchen,

do a load or two of laundry,

but I'll save the bathrooms and dusting

and all that good stuff until tomorrow.

I also need to do some grocery shopping,

but we might be able to make it another day.

LOL

Sitting in my yard reading a book.

Plugging in the Christmas tree and 

enjoying the lights.

Just SMELLING the tree.

I swear this year's tree is the most piney

smelling tree we have ever gotten!

Puttering around in my kitchen,

trying new things to feed my family,

even standing at the sink washing eggs.

I honestly believe you find joy and pleasure

wherever you look for it.

But you have to be looking for it.

Or life just passes you by and you never

take the opportunity to notice what a

wonderfully, blessed life we lead.

It's true what they say.

Stop.

And smell the roses.

(or the Christmas tree)

Happy Monday!

Curbside

Oh Chili's Curbside Ordering.

Where have you been all my life???

It was cold on Saturday evening.

(Cold in Florida terminology...

61 and breezy in South Florida

is COLD!)

Anyhow.

I was sick all week last week.

And it was cold.

And I'd been teaching all day.

And I was tired.

The thought of sitting in the lobby

of a restaurant for 45 minutes or more

waiting for a table

and then sitting there for another 45 minutes

while ordering, waiting for it to arrive

and then eating,

all while listening to others LOUDLY

enjoying their evening

and also while FREEZING

(turn the A/C off people!)

just didn't sound worth it.

I was seriously considering just

hitting the Chick Fil A drive through

and eating in my hotel.

(They gave me an executive suite... fancy!)

And then I remembered

Chili's has online ordering

and curbside pickup.

Decided to give it a try.

I knew just what to order, since I eat

there often (it's just a couple of blocks

from my school).

Ordered a guacamole burger with 

a house salad with bleu cheese and

onion rings.

YUM.

It said it would be ready in 23 minutes,

so I finished up my class paperwork

and then hopped in my car.

Texted "here" when I arrived and 

moments later a nice young lady handed

me my bag of food and I was on my way.

I was in my hotel room and getting

ready to eat my dinner in my nice warm

jammies in a comfy chair while watching

my choice of television show in 

half the time it would have taken

me to get a table!

It was AWESOME!

And I'm hooked.

And then, as a bonus, the next day

I downloaded the Subway app on my

phone and pre-ordered my lunch

and picked it up at the drive-thru window.

All while enjoying my 

heated seats in my VW.

Yup,

I'm spoiled.

Feed and Doctors

Rod has been wearing himself out.

Working a bazillion hours.

His company is offering as many

over time hours as your want,

they have several planes that need

to get out before the end of the year.

And then when the new year gets here,

there will be no overtime for probably

the first quarter.

Get it now while you can!

But he might have overdone a little.

Saturday morning he woke up

intending to go to work.

But he had a fever.

And a massive headache.

So instead he called in sick

and slept on the couch.

While he was napping,

my new fancy printer/scanner/copier

thingie came by FedEx.

(Free from the company!)

So when he woke up, we spent

a little while opening it,

hooking it up and testing it.

It's AWESOME!

But we were sitting at the kitchen

table on the wooden bench

without a cushion

and when he got up his back was

incredibly sore.

Back to laying on the couch.

Sunday he spent the day sleeping again.

Still a fever.

Still an incredibly sore back.

Monday he called out sick again

and we headed to our doctor.

He still had a fever and his BP was

SUPER low!  We were expecting it to

be high because he was in pain,

but it was 82 over 60!

Doc was quite concerned, 

couldn't find any reason for any of the issues.

Did a flu panel (negative)

and x-rays of his abdomen.

Discovered he is SUPER constipated and

impacted, but still no reason for the fever.

And his back is still so sore.

The doc had him do some stuff to get

the constipation issue taken care of,

and recommended he stay home and

rest for another day or two.

Tuesday he was fever free, 

but his back was still really really sore.

Took another sick day.

He feels best while sitting straight up,

so we loaded up the truck

and headed up north to pick up some feed.

(I drove)

And when we got back home

he made a chiropractor appointment

to see if that would help his back.

Last night he had a couple of friends

come over and they gave him a blessing.

He had the BEST sleep last night

that he has had in months.

But his back is still sore.

Back to work, 

but left early to head back to the doctors

for an ultrasound of his abdomen again.

The tech said the radiologist would

take a look and if there was anything

to be concerned about they would call

today, otherwise Doc would likely call

with the results on Friday.

His back is still pretty sore,

although the chiropractor helped.

He's going again tomorrow.

And I'm going to fix the bed.

We have slept on a water bed for our

entire married life.

Except for a brief stint with a real

mattress that we ended up giving away.

Somehow our waterbed bladder got a 

giant air bubble in it.

It was bugging me.

When I make the bed, there's this big

bulge and it looks dumb.

So the other day Rod helped me

and we got the air bubble out.

And now our bed is TOO HARD!

I woke up a bunch last night with my

hips on fire.

Maybe that's the answer????

So I'm going to put the air back in.

LOL

Finger crossed that is all it takes.

And if not, that the Doc will be able

to figure it out.

(But hopefully it will help me sleep...)

(I can't sleep on a hard mattress...)

2 nights at a hotel is my MAX.

Anyhow.

I'll keep everyone posted when we hear back.

And...

Rod shared his cold with me.

So I'm sitting on the couch,

watching Hallmark Christmas movies,

mega-dosing oil of oregano and D3

and doing Italian burps.

(oregano repeats something fierce!)

So that's awesome.

Peachy!

Last year Rod and Kyle

surprised me with 2 little 

peach trees.

(Also 2 loquat trees, but

neither of them survived.)

The peach trees are leafless.

All the leaves blew off during

the hurricane.

We were worried they were dead as well.

But while we were fencing,

this is what we found!

There were several little peach blossoms!

Only one tree has blossoms,

but the other tree looks like it

might be thinking about it.

I wanted to take a picture,

because Jim (the plant guy)

said we shouldn't let it blossom or fruit

for the first 2 years.

So, goodbye little blossoms.

Hopefully your sisters / brothers

will show up again next year!

Fences

They say fences make good neighbors.

We have GREAT neighbors already.

But our dogs didn't get that memo.

Our neighbors, Rick and Chris

are cat people.

And then Rick retired.

And then Chris retired.

And she was bored.

And she "rescued" a dog.

A pretty little female.

They started going to training to learn

to be a therapy dog.

But Dixie was pretty shy.

So they switched to agility training.

And she was GOOD at it!

So they started going to shows.

And then Rick decided to join in.

So he bought a male dog of the same breed.

And Apollo is the exact opposite

of Dixie.

They are both beautiful.

And Shadow hates them both.

(Actually they were good friends until

we got Bandit and Shadow decided to be

her Mom and went all Mama Bear on Dixie.)

So now whenever Dixie or Apollo are out

(Chris only takes them out one at a time

and on a leash) Shadow sticks her head through

the wire fence and tries to eat them.

There is always lots of barking and

jumping and it's not fun for either side.

We built a "dog yard" and keep our

dogs out there all day.

They have lots of room to run and play

and Rod and Kyle built them a raised

patio with a metal roof so they have a place

to get out of the sun or the rain.

But mostly they dug UNDER the patio

and have a nice cool cave.

But it still sometimes gets crazy.

Friday, Chris opened the back door to

let her cat out (or something) and Apollo escaped.

I was outside feeding the animals, so my dogs

were all loose running around the yard.

Apollo saw them and came running.

He can EASILY clear the 4' fence if he wants.

Chris was terrified he was going to do that.

So she was screaming.

Shadow had her head through the holes and

was barking and trying to bite him.

So I was yelling at my girls to get back 

in the garage.

It wasn't pretty.

So after all the dogs were contained,

I asked Kyle to take a day off work.

And this is what we did.

This is "before".

Looking out our side yard into their side yard.

This is after putting up a couple of panels.

We bought 14.

I miscounted.

We had to go back and get 3 more.

And some lunch.

Cuz we were HUNGRY!

And this is our new fence.

The dogs can't see each other.

Chris can let her dogs out without a leash

and not worry about them.

I don't have to worry about my dogs

eating her dogs.

(Apollo is a space cadet, but he keeps winning

Best In Show

for his breed and if she bit him it would

be devastating.

And expensive...)

Chris is over the moon happy.

And they offered to pay for half.

And you can still see over the fence

so although it looks like we are all

fenced in (we are) it's not claustrophobic

or anything.

Unless you look over there, you don't

even really notice it.

I actually REALLY like it.

We might paint it the same color as the house.

But that's later.

I learned to use the screw gun.

(I already knew, but I was TERRIBLE

at it, Kyle helped me with some

tips and tricks and I'm still terrible,

but with little letters.)

I also got to use the big table / miter saw

and cut a board.

I always wanted to do that!

Good thing I learned all that stuff 

cuz I still need to finish

securing the fence. 

Kyle is out of days off.

We only put in the

screws in the middle - we need to install

more 2 x 4 supports on the back.

But it's up.

And it's pretty.

And it works.

And I was EXHAUSTED.

LOL