Month: May 2012

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Failed driviers test

This is the second time my daughter has taken her drivers test, and alas, failed. I feel so sorry for her. Her problem is the parking. When I am with her, she drives perfectly and only has a little bit of a problem parallel parking. When she is with her father, or with a stranger who is trying to teach her, she gets really nervous and then chokes up. AND, to make matters worse she has a really defensive nature and then gets upset when it seems someone is being demanding of her. Something that she has got to stop.

I admit that when she drives with her father, it is a horrendous experience. He is not a patient person and he tends to yell when there is no reason for doing so. In other words he is pure hell to have in a car while driving, or at a table when trying to learn homework. Actually anything that deals with teaching is not his strong point.

I’m going to take my daughter out the the farm and put her on one of the tractors and also have her drive one of the farm trucks. They are all sticks. It is how I learned how to drive when I was 9 yrs. old. If you can drive farm equipment, you can drive anything, is my motto. She and I will have her passing her driving test in no time.

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Picking out Graduation Announcements

With my youngest daughter’s graduation around coming on fast, (we have three more weeks) it’s time to address her graduation announcements. It seems like yesterday that I was sending her off to school for her first day, on the bus. I even remember what she wore that day. I get a bit “mom type” sentimental when it comes to things like preparing her now for graduation from high school, and soon she will be going off to collage. I’m going to really miss her a great deal when she leaves for school.

My daughter doesn’t want a big graduation party, which actually doesn’t surprise me much, since she never has liked a lot of pomp and circumstance, as it is. She’s is a social person, but on the same note, she doesn’t like a lot of fuss being made. We have decided to have a small get together with the family and a few close friends that she wanted to invite. I personally wish she’d like a big party, since graduation is a awesome accomplishment and also a step toward even bigger and better things in a person’s life.

The announcements we ordered are so personalized and fitting for my daughter that when her graduation photo is put inside, it is like we actually chose the announcements according to her various outfits worn in her pictures. Which actually we didn’t, yet they came out perfectly. My daughter is happy with them, the price was right and I’m happy about that. It will help with money matters, since we also plan on giving her the gift of money and the title to a truck she has wanted for a long time. It won’t surprise me if she finds a way to attach her announcement to her dashboard. This is saying something about how well they turned out.

 

 

 

 

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An outing for fur kid and I

Deciding to take my dog and buddy Jasper for a walk in the forest and around the farm today. It really was a great experience. I found loads of great asparagus and picked some early berries.

In the forest we walked and explored. Jasper loved flushing out all kinds of little critters, and had a good time just barking at them a couple of times. He’d never ever run them down or harming them. Just a flush out and a couple barks is enough for him.

I packed a light lunch that we shared. My fur kid enjoys the same odd sandwiches I eat and also raw veggies and fruit, so he and I both ate, then I had to feed the hogs and steer. Jasper wasn’t into that and decided to look at all the new kittens we have in the barn. It was a really peaceful and calm day. I love nature. The weather was perfect and I indeed had the best companion ever with me.

 

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Kill then shop

Today I played the Terminator in the back yard. The patio is all old brick, which was literally covered in heavy weeds. I used a great weed killer last year, that killed the weeds within an hour, but at the first sign of Spring, up came the weeds again, though the weed killer people promised a full year of no weed infestation.

The whole chore took a lot less time than I thought it would and I was rewarded with dying ( I thought I heard them screaming) weeds at a very rapid pace, and also a great start on my tan.

Tomorrow I go shopping for some top soil for the beds I dug up, and also I’d like to pick out some tomato plants and I saw an ad that there were garden hand tools of a good brand on sale at the tractor supply store that I go to. I’m sure I’ll find seeds and other plants I want though.

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Mother’s Day flower boxes

The kids made me shut my eyes as they led me outside to reveal my Mother’s Day present, which were a set of flower boxes. I loved them right away! I’ve been wanting regular flower boxes for a long time, as I have a sort of project in mind,, using them and some other garden items, in the front yard, and now I can at least start on this project. The lovely flowers of all sort that apparently my kids bought and transplanted into the box, were the finishing touch on my present.

I love window boxes also. When we bought the house, there were some on the house, but they were in sad state of repair. I finally got them down and they literally were falling apart in places because of wood rot, and the fact that they were super old.

A window box in each of the front windows, as there are two of them, would look really pretty. It’s on my list of things I get while saving up my pennies. OR, I could save money and try to make my own.

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The Bunk Bed has arrived

For a long time, I waited patiently to find just the right Bunk Bed for my two son’s who share a room. There is a five year difference in ages, but they are really close and call one another best friends. Now that they both have to share a room, it means organization and also planning for storage space, going on in that said room. So far there hasn’t been any big arguments, but I expect to hear some in the future. They do get on one another’s nerves every now and then. It’s bound to happen in a room that size.

To make matters a bit more cramped, they have moved in a full drum set. This, along with all the other musical instruments and such, takes up a great deal of space. My guys decided that they wanted a new set of bunk beds, since the one they had was rather bulky and took up a lot of wall and floor space that they need.

I told my guys that I wanted to get them beds with enough room left over for their desks and computer things. Then I began some looking for what I thought would be a serviceable piece of furniture and not just a bed. I found is called the Empire Loft, and it will be perfect in the room. With both in the room, they both will have their own space while doing work and homework.

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Outdoor patio heaters are awesome

When my sister got married, she and her husband wanted to have the wedding outside, with tents set up for the guests and food, but they also wanted to get outdoor patio heaters, which to me are awesome to have. My sister wanted to buy them so they could sit out on the patio in evenings that got a bit chilly. She figured also that since our family are always celebrating one event or another, we actually all wanted to go in together to get these heaters, since we no doubt would be borrowing them if needed for a big get together.

I have liked these patio heaters because though I don’t know too much about them, I do know that when we built our deck/patio, I wanted to get a small heater right away. We did a lot of shopping, and comparing prices. We changed our minds at least twenty times also. Not to mention the fact that I would like one kind and my husband wanted another. Personally, just to be fair, I don’t care really what make it is, as long as I am warmed by the machine, it isn’t too pricy and it lasts.

I’m thinking that by buying a couple of the outdoor patio heaters, we’re going to be happy with them, especially after night time swimming. Even in the summer, for the most part the evenings and into the night time, it gets a bit chilly now and then.

 

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Home energy audit to save money

Because of this past winter, and the amount that our energy bills were, we have decided to have a home energy audit. I know that this house is old and drafty, but it also can be fixed up to be a warm and cozy place, with the right assistance to show and tell us how we can save money on our energy bills.

I’ve always lived in older homes that were cold and drafty while I was in my 20’s. I loved each house, and it seemed rather “quaint” to have to use lap robes and haul in wood for the fire place, that wasn’t for ambiance, but for real heat. Now that I am older and know more about ways to save money in the long run with the heating bills, I want to hire a home insulation contractor, since I found out we have very little insulation in this house.

I’ve read that there are federal grants for home improvement, and that would help a great deal with the financial aspect of getting my home insulated and perhaps do even more improvement of the house, as I’m super tired of waiting for the money that I save, to be enough for these improvements. It would add to my peace of mind if I knew I could be able to fix this home up.

 

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Envy Zinnias

Last summer I saved the zinnia seeds that are now three generations strong. 🙂 I planted green zinnias, that some seed company’s call “Envy” and others don’t even carry. Around here, or at least in the garden departments of the stores around here, the stores don’t carry them, that I have ever seen.

My seeds came from a friend who first found them in Ohio. I’m sure that there are places that readers will be able to go out right now and find, but to me, it’s all in the “seed seeking” and finding of these little green gems. I always dead head my zinnias and save the seeds, but I put the each color and size of the seeds into packets (easy to make one’s self and a great gardening tool) and mark them, so I know which I’m going to be growing, or relatively close to growing,what I marked on the package, since one never really knows for sure. To me, the seeds are more organized and I’m somewhat prepared. I think I’m going to be pretty sure what color and seed are going where. The green zinnias make an lovely contrast, also a great conversation piece in the gardens.

 

 

 

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Sad and long day

It’s been a long and rather sad day. My daughter found out one of the family dogs has cancer, and it’s hitting home pretty hard, as I had the daughter of this dog and she died last fall of the same type of cancer. The vet said that they are going to make China, my daughters dog, comfortable and give her something for infection.

This day seemed to drag on and on while waiting for news from my daughter about her pet, which actually along with her other dogs, is a family member. I know how it feels, since I have lost quite a few of my beloved fur friends in my time, and also the pets the kids all grew up with.

China and her mate Tyson, have been in the family for nearly 14 years, so the vet figured their age in dog years is about 100. She’s led a really good and fun filled life. I am so used to dog and house sitting for my daughter when they go on vacations or leave with the kids for the weekends, so I’m going to miss  China when she passes on. Tyson will be lost also. It’s sad, but a fact of life, and all I can do is be there for them all after their pet is gone, like I always have been.