Dog Party!

What's a beagle to do, I thought? The masters of the house had a special evening planned. A night out with friends. In their haste to leave, they forgot to lock me in the mudroom. I was left all alone in the house!!

I explored my possibilities, and decided on a dog party. That's right, a dog party! Life can be so stressful, and I needed to just relax and let loose. Now I haven't hosted a dog party before, so I wasn't sure where to start.

The pantry. Yes. The perfect place to start the party. I pulled out both bags of bones AND the really yummy treats reserved for bath day. HA...no bath on the agenda though ;-) I spread this delicious bounty of food all out on the the living room floor. This was way too much food for one little beagle to enjoy. I tried to invite Clover to the party, but she was locked outside. What was I to do? You can't have a party alone, I thought. Just when I thought all hope was lost, I remembered that there were two cats upstairs. They needed to let loose too. I quickly ran up to inform them of the great news. There's a party downstairs and they are invited! They showed no interest at all so......I ate their cat food.

Now, with any good party comes upset stomach from overeating. I needed to get rid of some of this food I digested, but where? EVERYWHERE! Oh yes, I can't decide which room would be best, so I chose them ALL! This was turning out to be such a great party....

What's that? Oh no! I hear keys in the door......the masters are home, and I haven't had a chance to clean up from the party yet. What's a beagle to do? I quickly hid my head in shame, hoping they understand that I really needed that dog party!

Victims of an air raid!!!!

Around 8 years ago, Sweet Man and I set off on an adventure. We wanted a piece of land to raise our child (we only had one, at the time) and perhaps some veggies on. We also had a horse being boarded at a nearby barn, that we wanted at home. We didn't know where we wanted this piece of land to be, or what the house plans would look like. We knew one thing though, we wanted a metal roof. A RED metal roof.

To me, a metal roof screams farm house. Comfy home, full of good food and happy people. There were so many reasons that one should have a metal roof, according to the metal salesman, but I only needed one. You could hear the rain on it. I don't think I realized just how much you could hear that rain, until we moved in, and I tried talking on the phone during a rainstorm. I told the person I was going to have to call them back, after the rain was over. I had a metal roof. A red one.  I still loved my roof.

Now one thing I did not take into account, was the dropping of bombs. Oh yes, every winter we are bombed. That lovely snow builds up on our roof and with a day of warmer temperatures, or perhaps a little rain, the snow slides off the top roof onto the porch roof. It is so loud that it normally sends everyone running around the house making sure that some huge catastrophe hasn't taken the life of someone. Last night, around 2:00a.m., we were the victims of an air raid. Or so we thought. We had warmer temperatures AND rain.  To be in a deep sleep, and to be awakened to what sounds like a scene from World War 2, is just about enough to give you a heart attack. Needless to say, we did not get a whole lot of rest. Oh, they have little things called snow birds, that are supposed to help with that, but we were on a budget during our house construction, and we tried to build as cheap as we could. We can always add those later we thought, you know, when we aren't on a budget. HA...still waiting ;-)

So if you see me out tonight, Sweet Man and I have a date, forgive me if I look a  little tired. We have a metal roof you know. A red one.

This picture has nothing to do with the post.  I just ran across it and loved it! This was Brownie and Honey, two of my ponies. They had a metal roof too!

What do do with all of that leftover ham?!

I was cleaning out my bookcase the other day, and ran upon a cookbook my sister made for me, several Christmases ago. It has a lot of old recipes from our family in it, along with some of her favorites. With it being crammed on a self with many other cookbooks, I had completely forgotten about it.

I was flipping through it yesterday and ran across a baked bean recipe. That seemed like the perfect dish to use up some of this ham we have hanging around after the holidays. It called for soaking navy beans ALL night. It was 10:00 a.m., and I wanted this for lunch! I did not have time for all of that! So I did the next best thing....

To the canned beans I added:

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup ketchup

1 teaspoon mustard

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 onion chopped

chopped ham

1 cup of water

I simmered this on the stove for about an hour and a half or so. The results were so yummy, the after math however, was not :-o

                            

Hill billy sleigh riding......

The weather here has been perfect for playing in the snow.  For finding really large ice cycles, that can double as weapons on a moments notice. The girls were excited that Gramps hadn't knocked all of his down, like their daddy did. Safety first ya know...

 With a base of ice and lots of snow on top, sleds can go record speeds.

 Little bodies tire out quickly from the long trek back up the hill though.

Not to worry if your Dad has one of these.

 A few short minutes and a rope later, and you have a hill billy pulley system.

 This was just as much fun as the ride down =)

 Oops...I think Sweet Man forgot to hold onto the rope ;-)

 Clover got a lot of exercise that day!

The day was just about perfect, and to end it on a nice note, we of course had to throw food in the mix. With cold noses and hungry tummies, we piled into my parent's house, for soup and sandwiches.

You just can't beat a good hill billy sleigh ride! :-) 

Christmas 2010...revisited

Christmas has come and gone, and once again it feels like it went so fast. This year was very different. We didn't do our usual Christmas eve activities, and we didn't "travel" around at all. It was a very peaceful, stress free holiday, and I loved every minute of it! Mike and I decided to have our little Christmas with the girls on Christmas Eve.

The Christmas story was read on the pull out couch,the night before.
The girls finished out the evening with a  little sleepover downstairs by the fire.

Christmas eve morning we let them open our gifts to them and check out the goodies in their stockings.

Christmas morning my parents came up for breakfast and more presents.

After a few games, and dare I say, a nap from a few people :-0
 we made lunch together and proceeded to consume a more than imaginable amount of calories.

It was a very enjoyable day. To make sure that we didn't repeat the major consuming of calories the next day, our chickens got to enjoy a lot of the left overs. ;-) Hey, it's their Christmas too!

One of our gifts to the girls was not paid for in money. It was paid in time and sweat! We decided Christmas day that we would give them something special. A little over a year ago we moved all the girls into one bedroom. We didn't do this because we were short on rooms. I had a vision in my brain of the girls bonding and talking about their day after they were tucked in bed, which they did into the wee hours of the night!!  I had wanted them to have a close relationship. I was the younger sister growing up, and was never allowed in my sister's room. I remember being so frustrated by this injustice, that I hid under her bed and proceeded to mark up her handmade doll from our great Aunt, with lipstick. This plan did not work out the way I had planned, and I think my bum was sore for several days, ;-) I didn't want that same situation here. I realized not to long ago, that in my trying to force that relationship, that maybe I was hindering it a bit. One of the princesses is very responsible and doesn't want a messy room. One has a touch of OCD and has to have everything just so. And yet the other is an adventure taker that finds joy in seeing how big of a mess she can make and still not contract a disease. With this hodge podge of personalities, it left one doing the major cleanup, while the others did their own thing. Now I do believe that responsibility is a learned thing, and I kept waiting it out, trying to use this as a teaching moment. They haven't complained (too much) about the sharing of a room, but the other day I overheard them talking to a friend. They were expressing their desire to have their own room.  An HGTV special on Christmas afternoon got my brain a thinking. I talked it over with Sweet Man, and we decided right then and there to surprise them with their own room. It took most of Christmas day and the day after, but we are pretty happy with the results. And the girls, well they are too!!

We couldn't decide which room to give each girl. The downstairs formal dining room was going to be up for grabs, and they all wanted it. We are not formal dining room type people. This room just sat empty, except for the Christmas tree this year. I had dreamed of getting a very large farm table to put in this space, but when I saw the price tag for that table, I dismissed the idea very quickly! We numbered each room and then had the girls draw numbers. Hope was the lucky winner for this room.

Sadie got the second bedroom, which was Sweet Man's office.
Didn't I say he was sweet?!
He moved his desk back into our room, and hung the pink curtains back up ;-)

 

Grace drew number 3, which was the room they were already in.
She took it very well, and I was so proud of her. 

I was worried that they would get that attitude of "this is MY space"...
but this is what I woke up to the next day.

Grace went straight to Sadie's room to read her a book, and I got to snuggle in Hope's bed, and just have some alone time with her. Where was Sweet Man you ask? Well he was enjoying his room too.....as in sleeping in =)

Merry Christmas everyone! Such a wonderful time of year, that should be enjoyed with family and friends. It's not about what gifts we can give, but the one we already received so many years ago in a sweet little manger, hidden in a barn. I knew I loved barns for a reason ;-)

Happy birthday to my sweet Jesus, who I gave my heart to many years ago. You have never let me down!!

Happy birthday to my wonderful dad and his wonderful sister! I hope your day is perfect in every way, and just as special as you guys are. Love you both! 

Happy birthday to my Sweet Man's sister. I hope your day is filled with joy and laughter!  We love you so much!!

The Romance movie...

We are movie watchers here at the Fry house. After a long day of work and responsibilities, we love to put the princesses in bed, and veg out with a movie. These movies are frequently action/ adventure movies, that women are not supposed to prefer. I pretend that I am suffering through them. The other evening Sweet Man brought home a romance movie. I was touched that he tried to pick a movie out for me.

The plot of a romance movie is always the same though. Two smokin hot people who love each other and don't realize it just yet. They are always so different than real life. The man is always bringing home flowers, candy, love notes etc. They always wake up looking just as hot as when they went to bed, and they have dinner dates almost every day...

Now real life looks a little different over here. Smokin hot, is not quite the way I would describe myself (as I sit here in my sweat pants and uncombed hair)...now Sweet Man is another story ;-) The most exciting thing that I have been given lately was a pack of toilet paper when we had ran out. Now that is not something you want to be out of, in a house of five people, who eat everyday! Morning breath is always hanging around in the wee hours of daylight, and hair is sticking straight up like a bad horror movie. I can't remember the last dinner date that we had, without kids, who needed extra honey mustard for their chicken nuggets.

Ahhh the romance movie....totally sets you up for failure. Give me an action/adventure movie any day!! I love you Sweet Man, and that was some of the nicest toilet paper anyone has ever given me ;-)

A fun and messy week!

This past week was chock full of activities.

The girls caught the local "taxi" to my parent's house for a shower.

 There are definitely advantages to having a dry well...hubby and I were home alone!!!

We had a fun filled day with our friends, from our home school co-op, visiting the Clay Center. We watched the ballet performance of the Nut Cracker. Can I just say that some things are better left to the imagination, and men should NOT wear tights like that.... especially white ones!! :-o

We learned how to pull our own weight...no free rides here ;-)

 We found out that tasks are easier when you have help...

And that life is all about the Yo-yo, with many ups and downs...

that shouldn't always be taken too seriously! Laughter really is the best medicine one can give!!

We made our weekly loaves of bread...that were eaten the first day :-o

We played in the snow..and had a lesson on exactly why we DON"T eat the yellow snow!

We tried a new recipe that involved the taking out of our frustrations on candy canes. ;-)

 Fudgy peppermint brownies.

 Why is it that my dryer only shrinks my jeans around Christmas...?? So strange....

We had our Christmas party with my Mom's side of the family, with a game of charades to go along with it!

We had an evening of family joke telling...

and trying to see just who is the most flexible around here...

We had a scavenger hunt to find a treasure....

 An early Christmas gift that led to an evening of fun!

With a week like that, it left my house looking like a bomb went off inside. We had dishes in the weirdest places...(??I am guessing one of the princesses is practicing multitasking)

For fear that the Health Department might try and shut us down, it was time to take action!!

Saturday we had an all out cleaning day. Couches were moved and vacuumed under. Beddings were washed. Floors were swept and mopped. Toys and clothes were organized and put away. This momma went to bed very tired, but very happy. I had a clean house...for a day ;-)