Category: Family

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Already August

I can’t believe it is August 1 already. Summer has flown by it seems. It’s still hot as blue blazes outside, and my gardens are all dead and have been since we are in the middle of a drought, but the fact that summer is nearly over just kind of amazes me in one way, and also makes me a bit sad.

My youngest son will soon be back in school…the battle of getting him up in the morning will begin. He is the roughest one to wake up and always has been.

Time for getting school clothes and supplies and also time for getting the house at least semi ready for winter. With the weather the way it has been all summer, it’s hard telling what the winter will bring.

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Enjoying the pool and duckie

When it comes to my kids and swimming, I do believe they are part fish. I personally was a spring and high board diver while I was growing up and then into my late teens. At one time I had considered training for the Olympics, but situations change and things happened that I never did get to go to tryouts. My youngest son has the diving gene in him also swims like a pro, but lately he’s smitten with a floating duck I brought for the grand kids.

We taught kids in our family how to swim as a natural part of our summer lives. We were always going to the water of some sort or fashion. Whether a pool, a deep creek or even the big Lake Michigan, we were always in or near the water on hot summer days.

I wish every kid had the chance to learn how to swim at an early age so they would never be afraid to be in or on the water. You have to learn young – before you become afraid of things like that. I think the perfect age is 4 or 5 for most children. Some people even like to take babies in the water and teach them proper breathing techniques. I think that is wonderful – we need more of this in our children’s lives.

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In need of outdoor furniture repair

Because of someone, meaning my sons and husband, seem to have had a small party over the weekend, they or their friends went a bit overboard and now I am in need of someone who specializes in outdoor furniture repair. Around here, this is no easy task. I really like the furniture I have and want to keep it, but I know that it might be hard to repair or heaven’s forbid cost more than it would take to replace it. But I’m bound and determined to have my old furniture repair. It matches my deck and all of the other finishing touches I added that also mate the furniture.

To refinish patio furniture, I want someone who knows exactly what they are doing and I believe I have found such people to do this. I’m glad, since my furniture is not antique, but it is vintage and I’m really partial to all of it.

I have one patio chair that is going to need a whole lot of work. It is my favorite and happens to be the chair I always sit in. It looks like it went though a hurricane and was spit back out by the wind and ocean, after being dragged to yonder and back. I indeed will be needing a patio chair repair person who knows exactly what they are  doing. I know for a fact that the next time I go away, there will be no parties or disrespectful people here, but at least I found people who can fix my furniture, at a good price, so I don’t have to go out an buy new things that can’t compare with the good items I have.

 

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Great garage sale finds

Because of this season, I love all of the yard sales, garage sales and the barn sales. Oh heck, I love all the roadside sales we veer right into while taking road cruises.

Today, since most garage sales start on Thursdays, I didn’t think I would find much, but one’s man junk is another man’s treasure. I’ve been wanting to find my daughter a ceder chest to uses as a “hope chest” since she will soon be leaving home and moving out of state. To be honest, this is sort of tearing me apart, but I did find a Lane cedar chest that she can be proud to have. I got the man down by bartering, from 100.00 to 45.00.

This chest does have some dings and a bit of scratches in it, but it is old. I’m pretty certain it is an antique, but will have to check with a friend who deals with these kind of things. I’m sure it isn’t worth more than what I paid for it, but I’m happy with it, and know my daughter will be, after I clean it up some and use some natural scratch cover on it. Now I can start stocking it!! 🙂

 

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Healthy Ducks for Sale

After me voicing that I wanted a pond in the back yard, my husband jokingly said to find some Ducks for sale while I was at it. I don’t think that is a bad idea at all. If all goes well with building the pond that I would like to have at the edge of the back yard, they would be an ideal addition to it. Plus, not many people I know like duck eggs, but I do! They have a nice rich flavor and are great for omelets, in my opinion.

If I can Buy Ducks along with the chickens, I’d be on way to becoming a back yard farmer of sorts. Plus I think these animals are so darn cute to watch. They would be a most welcome addition to my back yard. They might even turn out to be nice pets also!

I thought it would be so nice to find some nice laying  Chickens for Sale. I would love to go out to their coop and fetch my own eggs that came from my own chickens, and ducks without having to buy them in the store at a really high prices for brown chicken eggs. My whole family love fresh eggs, and brown ones are the best. I think they have a much better flavor when they are fresh and brown.

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What is for supper

I hear this all the time. The problem is, since it’s summer and the temperatures have been as high as 105 degrees, I by no means what to fire up the oven. My gas grill isn’t working right and pure and simple, it’s just been too hot to cook.

I’ve been buying a lot of produce, fruits and also cold cuts for the family. The extent of my cooking lately has been to make things like potato salad, egg salad, tuna salad and ham salad. Oh yes, pasta salad of various sorts also is on the menu.

Tonight I’m going to suffer a bit and make a large supper. I plan on making a pork loin roast, a leafy salad, baked potatoes and also corn on the cob. At least that is the game plan. My husband bought me a very large floor fan for the kitchen and I’m going to try it out. Supper will be later than usual, since I’m going to wait until the sun is going down, but I don’t think anyone will complain. I’ll put out some light munchies to tide them over until my roast is done.

 

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Shopping with mom

Yesterday I went with my mom to “pick up a few things” at her favorite super store. I actually thought she would stick to her short list this time and not buy items that weren’t on this list. Wrong. We went down every single aisle in the food section of the store. Granted, both of us got some great deals, but it took nearly an hour and a half to go shopping for “a few things” that my mom didn’t even really need.

I enjoy spending time with my mom, there is no doubt about that. When she asks me if I want to go to her favorite store though, I have to remember that the list grows and to know that we are going to be in that store for quite awhile!

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Weekend mini vacation

The kids and I are planning on going to Devils lake this weekend. Contrary to the name, the lake doesn’t have grass around much of the lake, and it’s probably the only lake I will actually go swimming in. I have an aversion to seaweed and mucky bottoms, so since this lake has (as far as I’ve noticed) a hard packed sandy bottom.

I think my kids are looking forward to this little mini vacation. It’s going to be nice to get away for a little while, go swimming and just kick back. Usually we rent a small speed boat or a pontoon boat for a day, to go out and meander around the lake, then visit a favorite restaurant that is on the point, which we actually have to dock up to.

So far there has been a unanimous vote that we are leaving early on Friday morning, but I’m thinking that the kids won’t be ready until early afternoon. This generally is always the case. I don’t care, I just want to park myself on the beach and enjoy my time relaxing.

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Early school clothes shopping

Maybe I’m jumping the gun a bit, but I’m going to take my youngest son shopping for some school clothes tomorrow. He likes this one novelty type store that all the kids get a lot of their shirts and jeans from, so instead of ordering online, at least I can take him to the shop/store and make sure clothes fit, instead of sort of guessing like one sometimes has to do when ordering from the internet.

I haven’t gone shopping with just my youngest son in a very long time. It’s going to be nice to spend some alone time with him, since we haven’t had that opportunity to do so lately. He’s always off with his brother or hanging out with his girlfriend. Playing video games with him doesn’t count.

I think we’ll make a day of it, go shopping and out to lunch at his favorite restaurant. If there is anything else he wants to do, or any other stores he’d like to go to, we’ll also do that. I’m looking forward to this. I’m not so sure my son is, but at 15 he is pretending well, for me.

 

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Shopping for residential address plaques

Since my daughter moved into a new home, I’ve been looking at residential address plaques that I think she may like since there isn’t one on her house. It’s hard to tell which house is hers and even her mail man has been messing up when delivering the mail. It’s been bothering her since she had to change her address and important mail has ended back at the post office for her to have to go into town and get. To me, this is basically the mail carrier’s fault, but people do look for a name and address when trying to find the right house.

Personalized address plaques are a nice gift. It has both the name and address on the plaque and it gives it sort of a homey touch, I think. I haven’t asked my daughter which kind she wants though, so I’m holding off on buying one. I don’t know if she and her husband want their last name on the plaque for privacy reasons. Which us understandable to me.

I personally like the bronze address plaques and think that one would look really nice on my daughter’s house. There are so many various plaques to choose from, I might just wait and let my daughter look at them and choose the one she wants. That way, since it’s her choice, I’ll know I got her exactly what she wants.