Kamala

Girls can learn so much from Kamala's Cinderella story............. She will be an inspiration to young girls by showing that if you sleep with the right powerfully connected men then you too can play second fiddle to a man with dementia. It's basically a Cinderella story.

Mask of the Beast

You must wear a mask to go into the bank.  You must wear a mask to go into a store.  You must wear a mask at work.  You must wear a mask in public.

Sounds like the Mark of the Beast in Revelation, doesn't it?

Revelation 13:16-18  And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand, or on their forehead, and he provides that no one should be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

This is the trial run.  Get ready.  It's coming.  Get your heart right with the Lord.  Time is short.

Hitler finds out the Mueller Investigation is Over

Bedding

You know what I miss?  Good quality sheets.  I hate my extra thick mattress that my sheets don't fit.  I hate how hard it is to pull the corner of the fitted sheet down over the last three corners.  I hate that the mattress is so thick and heavy I struggle to tuck the top sheet under the foot of the bed which has the additional offense of being too short.  You used to be able to get Cannon percale sheets 50% cotton and 50% polyester that we soft and crisp with NO IRONING needed.  I still have a couple of twin bed sheet that were my mother in laws.  They are over 20 years old and still in excellent shape.  The Cannon percale sheets that my husband brought into our marriage were ten years old when we got married and we used them every day for ten more years with weekly washings before they started to show definite were and tear.  I bought 100% Egyptian cotton sheets to replace them since that was all the rage and I couldn't find Cannon percale 50/50 anywhere.  The Egyptian sheets were a high thread count by a well know designer.  They showed more wear after the same normal use after two years!  They were expensive, too.  They wrinkled horribly and didn't feel as soft as the Cannon sheets.  I have tried three different sets of sheets since and have not been happy with any of them.
So, a nice rant after months of not posting and no pictures!

Conservative vs. Liberal Beliefs

Conservative vs. Liberal Beliefs

Christmas robes

 All of the grand daughters got robes for Christmas this year.  I think the one for the oldest should be a tad bigger so she could wear it longer.  Oh well, that is easy to fix, I'll just make her another one when this one is too small.  All three girls were thrilled to have robes!  They were fun and easy to make (if you ignore the fluff left everywhere by the minky fabric).  Fleece is much easier to sew.  We have two Hello Kitty robes and one Tinkerbell.  Next on the list is spring dresses!

Lessons in trailer camping

 This is the jack that supports the front of the trailer when the trailer is off the ball hitch of the truck.  It is not supposed to be bent 90 degrees and flat on the ground.  It is supposed to be supporting the front of the trailer. 

But, this is what happens when you chock the wheels on one side and put boards under the wheels on the other side (to make it level on uneven ground) and you unhitch from the back of the truck and the trailer is torqued but you don't know it.  The trailer moves in a little sideways rotation causing the jack to bend and the front to slowly crash to the ground.  It happened in slow motion and there wasn't a darned thing we could do about it.  No one got hurt and the ground is very wet and soft so the trailer wasn't damaged.  We had to sleep all night with the blood draining into our skulls (which probably did us some good!) but other than that the dilemma was how to get it propped back up so we could be comfortable and get it hooked up to the truck when we went home!  Brother-in-law, sons-in-law and a friendly stranger staying at the campground, all pitched in with hydraulic jacks, lumber for supports and lots of advise and suggestions.  All the guys worked on it while the girls did fun things like craft fair shopping and playing dice games.  The guys got the trailer lifted and hitched back up to the truck and then off they went to buy a new jack for the front.  $32.00 later and the problem was solved.  Yay team work!

This is how it is supposed to look.  We aren't at the same location but I didn't have a picture of the trailer after it was fixed.



Husband learned a new trailer lesson and got more chocks for Christmas!   We are looking into a 5th wheel for more stability!  (that won't happen anytime soon but we will look at options for fun!)

Decorating for Christmas

DSSD came over to help with decorating and blogging.

So, since DSSD came over.......I'm back!  (for now!)

We had to get new lights.  I don't know how it is in other parts of the country, but, here in Kalifornia there are only LED lights available.  I  can't even begin to tell you how I HATE LED lights!  It actually hurts to look at the tree.  The picture doesn't show it at all but they are intensely bright and annoying.  We have bought, put up, and taken down tree light three times this week.  This is crazy! Oh wait, that was an exaggeration.  We didn't put up the second set DSH bought.  He brought them home and we plugged them in and thought they were too bluish looking.  A very odd looking "white" light.  The first set were multi colored and they are very much "jewel" tones.  Just not Christmas looking.  Now we are shopping on line to find incandescent lights.

The box under the tree is a gift for my parents.  The traditional Nutcracker.  They don't read this so no secret has been let out.  I don't wrap and put presents under the tree until after Dec 15 which is DSH's birthday.

We went camping for Thanksgiving which was awesome.  Who would have thought???!!!  My youngest daughter married into a family that has camped at the same place for Thanksgiving for years.  We never saw my daughter for Thanksgiving so we had to get our own trailer and join them.  LOL
We joined them for the first time last year and had a blast.  This year my sister and her husband joined us.  It was sooooo fun.  Three Traeger smokers and one deep fat fryer were brought and used so there was plenty of cooking space.

 Here is a photo of the granddaughters in our trailer with our dogs.  The dogs made themselves at home on their sleeping bags.  They didn't sleep there all night though.  They went into our room with us.

Here is a random photo.  Our little black dog, Bailey, loves tennis balls.  We have a friend who is a tennis pro.  One Christmas a few years ago he game Bailey a huge box of old tennis balls.  This is what happens after she has played with them for awhile.  She doesn't eat them but she is hard on them.  It is time for another box full.




The big news is that my oldest daughter is pregnant with our 5th grandchild.  This is a miracle baby!  We are so excited for them.  God is good.

Merry Christmas to all of you in blog land. 

We went to a sheep auction!

 Sheep being judged.

 Buyers checking out the merchandise.

 Ram being made handsome.

Her eyes aren't really blue!  What a sweet face.

For some reason, DSH wouldn't let me make a bid.

Someday!!

I don't get it!

DSH came home today and said my blog is hard to read.  I pulled my blog up on my computer and said, "No, it's not!"  He pulled my blog up on his computer and said, "Yes, it is!"   I took a look and sure enough he is right.  My blog looks like CR*P on his computer!  The background is the wrong size, all the shapes are wrong.  The words are hard to read.  Very strange.  Why does it come up looking fine on my computer but horrible on his?  The new background and set up was done over a year ago by my oldest on her computer.  Any ideas anyone?

DSH to the rescue!

Dear Sweet Husband to the rescue with photos off of his phone.

 Filled barrels.

 One of two blueberry bushes.

Basil and thyme.

Wedding anniversary

Tomorrow is my oldest daughter's wedding anniversary.  Happy Anniversary!

Next week is my youngest daughter's anniversary but I don't have any of her pictures on my computer because she was married before I was saving them on the computer.  I will have to look for her disc of photos and see if I can have DSSD download them for me.

On another topic of discussion, the garden is doing very well.  We cut wine barrels in half, drilled drainage holes in the bottom, filled them with soil with some rock in the bottom and there you go, raised planters!  I have potatoes, cucumbers, peppers, basil, thyme, two blueberry bushes  and onions in the barrels.  I have tomatoes and zucchini and squash planted in the old garden.  The apples, apricots, boysenberries and nectarines are doing well too!  This is obviously before the plants are in.  I'll have to get my camera out and start taking pictures again.

Making herself at home

Really, Blogger, I have to do a separate post for every picture?  (or am I just lame?)

 Relaxing after a Thanksgiving feast!

The sweetest pit ever

This is Kani.  She is my cousin's pit bull.  She is kind of a rescue dog.  He got her from his neighbor who wasn't the best care taker.  This girl is such a love bug!  She came to visit at Thanksgiving.  I would post more pictures of her but I am having the most frustrating time with Blogger and photos.  Fighting the computer to post a picture takes all the fun out of blogging.

Aprons at the Soccer Game

Last Saturday we went to oldest granddaughter's soccer game.  It was so fun watching all the little ones running around after the soccer ball and all trying to kick it at the same time.  The other team *won* the game and everyone had a great time.  I gave the girls their new aprons that were requested by oldest granddaughter.  She wanted a full apron.  The girls sent me lovely thank you notes.  I called the girls after receiving their notes.  It was their first phone calls where someone called specifically to talk to them.  So fun!

For The Record

I am NOT the 99%, nor am I a millionaire nor billionaire.  I am the 53%.  I work and I have earned my own way.  I worked to pay for my education.  And, I pay my taxes.  I am saving for my future.  I am not counting on social security being there for me.  I plan on working until I die or can't work any longer.  As far as I know, the Bible says nothing about retirement.

Personal responsibility people, it's the only way.

Canning Strawberry Jam

 

A few weeks ago I canned apricots and it took forever to get the water to boil.  DSH came to the rescue for canning strawberry jam.  He got out the two burner camping stove, hooked it up to a propane tank and fired it up.  Water was boiling in seven minutes instead of three hours.  Yay!                                                                                                       

 

The jars sure are pretty.  And the jam tastes great.  I've been eating it on home made bread.  I made quite a big mess though!

Happy canning!

Birthdays and Anniversary

Today is our 13th anniversary!  I must admit it has been a struggle to blend two families but it is much better than it used to be.  My husband and I get along famously (it's just a few family members that have been the "flies in the ointment") LOL!  I think that is normal for blended families.

Today is also our oldest granddaughter's 5th birthday.  Saturday was my 55th birthday and August 1st was my mother's 74th birthday.  Lots of things happening in August.  It is always a whirlwind.
This is what we do in August:

In July, my stepdaughter graduated from college and moved out.  She was a great house guest and our live in IT person.  (I say house guest because she didn't grow up in our home, she moved in after living on her own to make it easier to finish college).  But, I got my sewing room and office back!  I had a week and a half of vacation so I put the room back together and made a dress.

More pictures when I figure out how to down load now that my IT person has moved out!

Too Much Air??

I think there is too much air at the top of each jar.  I think all of these will be used to make cobbler so any bacteria growing in there will be killed!

OK, Maybe?

Now it is 4:12 pm and the canner is finally boiling.  The cots will now process for 30 minutes. I will probably have apricot sauce by the time I'm finished.  I'm thinking apricot cobbler for the next six months.  Ironically, I have a very fancy, expensive, new oven in the garage that is just sitting around waiting for the kitchen remodel that we can't afford to do.  Sigh.