Where Have I Been

I have been here and there and every where and no where in between. How about this, busy. Or maybe you want to hear me say that I've been relaxing. I'm tellin ya - I have done it all and I'm still not done.

Last year in the fall, I'm not sure of the month, we had a buyer for our house and land. But the deal fell through. Of course that was after we had packed up our house and put it in storage. Everything - well almost everything. This past weekend we started toting boxes in the house to unpack. My books are finally back on the book shelves where they belong.

I was going to unpack everything after I painted the whole house. Forget that, I'm tired of the house being so bare with no pictures and no paintings and such. I'm tired of not have my corning ware to cook in. I'm still going to paint the whole house and we will eventually put in new carpet. But I just can't wait any longer.

So before the New Year hits us and we call it 2008, here's what I have for you.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

It's Almost Here

Christmas is almost here! We are counting the days down. I'm not sure who is more anxious about Tuesday more...Superman, the boys or me. Me - I'm not really anxious, I'm just thinking in my head of how the boys are going to be, how they are going to act and how their little faces will look when they see everything under the tree. Superman - well this is his time of year. All he can do is call me into any room that there isn't a child in and whisper to me about this gift or that gift and what we should do and blah-blah-blah. LOL

The boys - well that is a different story altogether. They stare with complete bliss on their faces as we tote in packages wrapped in beautiful paper. It's almost like they become zombies. I know that Christmas morning is going to be extremely eventful around here.

Now I just have to wonder...What time will they wake me up on Christmas day?

Christmas Sharing

Here are some delicious Holiday Recipes for you to enjoy.

Be sure to check out all of the Christmas Stories. There are stories to read alone or to share with your family and friends.

Homemade Christmas Crafts

I horde things...Imagine that! I don't mean that I am a pack rat. I just mean that I keep some scraps of material, frozen juice lids, yarn, and, well you know. You're a crafter so you do the same thing. Today these little treasures paid off.

Here are a couple of things that the boys and I did for the holidays.

Card stock paper folded in half. I drew little stockings on the wrong side of some jeans material that I had left over. I wrote the boy's names on each stocking. I cut a tiny rectangle for the tap or stocking holder. I glued all of the material (stocking) pieces onto one half of the paper. I used an Elegant Writer pen (from Michaels craft store) and wrote "Merry Christmas", Twas The Night Before Christmas" and "Jesus is the reason" on the cards.

I cut little triangles out of left over jeans material and glued it to the inside of each card. I used the little triangles to hold the pictures inside the cards. It gives the card a little photo album or scrapbook look to the cards.

On the frozen juice lids I glued the stockings on one side of the lids. On the back side of the frozen juice lids, I glued a long scrap of jeans material. The loop on the back is made to hang these little ornaments on our tree.

Sketch's

At the yard sale Saturday, there was a man that set up near us. He had a few things for sale and honestly, I don't remember what he had for sale. What really amazed me was what he was doing. He is a sketch artist. He did sketch's of all of the kids that would sit still enough. Get this - the sketch's were free. Yeah - FREE!

Here are sketch's that he did of the boys. The sketch's actually make the boys look way older than they really are. I just like the fact that the boys were interested in this.

Busy Again

Yeppers, I've been busy again. Imagine that! LOL

Friday night we had a Boy Scout Yard Sale Organization Party. There was a bon fire with hot dogs and smores. The Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts had planned a yard sale for Saturday and so many items were donated. All of the kids were wonderful with organizing everything. Once everything was organized it was all put into bags or boxes and loaded into all of our vehicles.

Saturday was the big day! We had stuff everywhere. Oh yeah - the forecast was RAIN. We started setting up at 6am. Only 2 of the boys actually got up at 5:30 with me. JD had to get his beauty sleep. That's what MJ had to say about JD sleeping in. I wasn't really surprised when WW and MJ got up that early with me. They are pretty good about getting out of bed.
MJ was wonderful with the customers at the yard sale, he walked around with them and would tell them the price of items. Sometimes he would tell them way too much but the customers would just kinda giggle at him (not to hurt his feeling, but in an understanding way). We were going to have the yard sale between 8am and 12pm, but we decided to keep it going as long as the kids could mind their manners and the customers kept coming in.
Around 2pm things started getting really slow and the kids started getting board. Time to wrap it all up and head for home. And that's exactly what we all did. We made a total of $110 and that's after we bought pizza for all of the kids for lunch. Not a bad day at all!

Sunday we all slept in. Oh how wonderful it felt! A lazy day for us all to recoup from our busy couple of days.

A Fun Day

We started our day out early. Into the big city to take my mom to her doctor's appointment. Traffic wasn't too bad. At one point the boys ask if we were the only one on the roads. I guess for about a mile we didn't see any other vehicles. It was actually kind of spooky. The boys and I sat in the waiting room with my mom for a few minutes. I'm not one that can sit long without something really interesting in front of me. So outside we went.

The boys wanted to play on the bike parking area but I had plans. We walked in the parking lot and I explained how the drainage system worked. The parking lot has big grates in it where the water runs to the sewer. We looked at lots of plants and talked a little about each one. We found some pine cones and we talked about the pine cones. Of course we brought a few pine cones home with us. Right now they are under our Christmas tree. And of course the cats have been playing with them. But that's ok, I'm glad the cats are enjoying them.

On to hopscotch...I won, I won!!! We found a rock and I drew a hopscotch right there in the parking lot in an empty parking space. We each got a piece of bark out of the mulch from around the plants and we started our game. It was really fun! No - not because I won...Silly. It was fun because we played together. It was fun because we laughed and made fun of each other. Ok, because I won!

We made it home by 12:30. Not bad for a trip to the city. And I was able to get one errand done. The boys ate lunch while I checked my emails. JD had a little bit of History and Geography to finish. It just takes him forever (or so it seems) to get a task completed.

I finally managed to get all 15 windows cleaned, but only on the outside. That's a great accomplishment too. I had to move the step ladder from window to window on the back side of the house. On both ends and the front of the house, I had to use the extension ladder. I also started scrubbing our front steps. They get a lot of fungus from the oak tree that's close to the front door. WW and MJ managed to get our big farm truck washed. Actually WW had to wash it twice because he was responsible for the washing and the first washing really lacked. A valuable lesson learned for him.

Now I have to tackle the windows on the inside but that won't be too bad. I want to take down all the ugly blinds and either hang curtains or put up new blinds. Not sure what I'm gonna do with the windows. But I'll keep on thinking on it until I figure it out.

Friday, Superman is planning on taking the boys over to his dad's house to use the wood splitter. I'm supposed to get a few me things done. I'm really considering not doing the me things and just go with them to split wood. I might better sleep on that one and make the decision when I can think a little clearer. I'll let you know what I decide.

Here Lately

Here lately I've been busy. I know - Imagine that! I've been trying to figure out what has me so busy.
Could it be that I homeschool 3 boys or maybe we have 3 horses, 4 cats, 2 dogs? Maybe it's the bike riding we've been doing lately or the window cleaning that I started a couple of days ago. Maybe it's our Boy Scout Troop or running errands here and there. Maybe it's all the time spent in the kitchen. Oh who knows. LOL It's ok though, it's just that time of year.

I do know that my laundry is not even close to what it used to be. I discovered GoodNites. Yes, we have a bed wetter and it's not the end of the world. I sure thought it was the end of the world when I was washing his sheets and blankets every day of the week. Since we have discovered GoodNites all of that has stopped. Now our youngest child has his special pajamas and he is so proud. You can find out more by going to the GoodNites website.

Five to seven million kids in the United States wet the bed.
20% of 4- to 12-year-olds wet the bed.
Bedwetting is more common among boys than girls–about 2/3 of kids who wet the bed are boys. 72% of kids who wet the bed will outgrow it by the time they're 11–99% by age 15.

Things to Share

I have saved a bunch of stuff in my email favorites and today I had a minute to clean out some of those folders. Yeppers - I'm gonna share them with you. I don't really care for mass emails, so I thought I would just tell you some of those things here.

Those Born 1930-1979
Read to the bottom for the quote of the month by Jay Leno. If you don't read anything else, just read the quote - very well stated.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930s, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because,
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms........
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno: "With hurricanes, tornado's, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

Bike Riding

Oh yeah! I've done it 3 days now! WOOHOOO! Yes, bike riding.

Saturday, we rode 2.5 miles. Me and all 3 boys. Explored a huge hole that was dug years ago.
Sunday, 5 miles. Round trip it was a total of 5 miles. Saw a beautiful green worm.
Tuesday, 2 miles today. We saw the largest hawk that I think I had ever seen.

I'm not sure why, but I think I may be thinking a little healthier. Maybe it's because I spend so much time inside now that I homeschool the boys. I am such an out side person that it almost drives me insane to stay inside so much. Bike riding gives me more exercise than sitting in my office chair and trying to read my emails while the boys do whatever it is they are supposed to be doing.

We'll see how long we keep doing this. We do have a lot of things coming up with the Boy Scouts, but they shouldn't create any issues with our bike riding.

Free Craft Patterns

Lion Brand Yarn has some wonderful crafts. They are for all crafters, from beginner to expert.

Free Quilt Patterns has over 1000 free patterns.

Cross Stitch patterns galore.

Bella online has lots and lots of places to find free crochet patterns.

My personal favorite is AOK Corral.

Hop on over and check out the many craft links and free patterns.

Support Our Troops

My family Supports Our Troops! We support them because they allow us to keep our freedom. We support them because they are our security blanket that we sleep under every night.

If you would like to do something to show your support to our troops, then go over to Let's Say Thanks.

Contact Your Representatives

We all have to work together and get something done. That something is clean solar energy. It's not something that can be put on the back burner. It's not something that we can put off any longer. We must stand together and demand our elected officials to vote for clean solar energy.
Stand with me by contacting your Representatives now!

Please contact your Representative and senators and urge them to vote for a clean solar energy future!

GIVE US THE ENERGY BILL AMERICA NEEDS

Helping the Wildlife

Have you ever helped the wildlife? We do. We go about out daily chores and we think of the effect we have on wildlife. Today is a good example...

I brought out my bike today. Yeah - you should have seen the boys. They stood in amazement as my bike rolled down the back steps. It was funny to hear their aws and see their faces. Ok - back to what I was saying. On the way home, I spotted a huge green worm. I felt like the boys when they saw my bike rolling down the steps. I was amazed at how large he was and how beautiful green he was. Nope - no pictures, I didn't take the camera with us. I like to travel light.
We watched the worm for about 5 minutes and then we let him continue to his destination. We left him alone to do his thing. That's what wildlife does.

I have a few tips that you may or may not have thought about, that you can do for wildlife.

1. You can sting popcorn, cranberries, grapes, crackers and other things that you can think of on cotton thread. Hang it outside for the critters to enjoy. Make sure your thread is 100% cotton and the popcorn is 100% natural with no salt or butter.

2. Fill net material with any kind of bird seed, tie a ribbon around the top and hang it for the birds to enjoy. You can add crushed egg shells, orange slices, orange peels, crackers and other things that you think of.

3. String raw peanuts on 100% cotton thread and hang them for the critters to enjoy.

4. A pine cone can be a wonderful treat. Mix peanut butter and oatmeal for a think paste, coat the pine cone with the mixture (make sure to get it in the pine cone), roll it in bird seed, hang it and the birds will flock to it.

5. Suet. Melt beef fat or bacon grease and let it cool. Add bird seed, peanut butter, fruit or granola. Hang it in a net bag and the birds will love it.

6. Don't throw away your table scraps, put them in a net bag and hang outside.

Onion mesh bags are great to use for the netting material in most of the ideas.
I'm sure you can come up with a few other ideas too.
Hang some of these on your Christmas tree inside. When the time comes to take down the tree, just remove your ornaments and leave the natural ones on the tree. Set your tree outside and let the critters enjoy all the treats.

Don't just throw your Christmas tree out for the trash collector to take it to the land fill. Let the critters use your tree to protect them, they make great places for bunnies and other critters to hide in.

The 3 R's

You know what the 3 R's are. I know you do. It amazes me how many ways the 3 R's are used. I remember them as Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Those are the 3 basic things we need to get through life. How about this.

Reduce - Recycle - Reuse

I like those too. And I am gonna give you a few little hints, ideas or whatever you wanna call them.

Reduce -
So easy, just use less. I bet you are thinking, "Now how can I do that?". Well there are several ways. So you just have to use disposable plates, ok, use paper instead of Styrofoam. Paper breaks down so much faster than Styrofoam. How about getting yourself some cloth bags to use when you go shopping. You can use those bags over and over again, creating less plastic bags being used. The drive thru - what a waste. The drive thru waste gas, and that's a fact. Park your car and walk inside. Not only are you reducing the fuel that you are using, but you are getting more exercise.

Recycle -
Some people just hate the idea of recycling. No, I have no clue why they hate it. Unless it just takes up way to much of their time to separate plastic from cans or what not. Maybe it takes too much of their time to haul an extra container out to the curb for pick up.

ReUse -
Tacky! Not! To reuse something is not tacky. I mean you reuse the same pair of shoes and the same purse. So what's the big deal?! ReUse is one of the most simple things. Find ways that you can be creative in what you reuse. Every one's doing it. Ok, maybe not everyone, but you know what I meant.

As for me and my family, we will use the 3 R's. Reading, writing, arithmetic. Reduce, recycle, reuse.
Today we loaded our aluminum cans on the back of the truck. We strapped them all down and off down the road we went. The back of the truck was full to the point of splitting at the seams. Darn good thing I know how to strap things down - we didn't loose the first can. The total weight of our cans was 248 pounds. The total of our cash for the cans was $151.20. Not only did we do something for the earth, we put some cash in our pockets. I don't think that the boys will throw away another can.

We try our best not to buy things that come in plastic containers. However, I am really impressed that plastic is being recycled more and more. Did you know that the carpet in your home could be made from recycled milk cartons. Yes - it's true.

We are also using some old pallets to make things. The boys get the experience of using a hammer, saw, nails and a few other really cool tools. We try to be creative with our 3 R's.
I want to make homemade paper. I'm gonna do it. The one thing that I am missing from already making homemade paper is the blender. I have never, ever owned a blender. Hmm...I think my mom may have one, I know she used to have one. Mental note to self - call mom, ask if she still has her blender. And I have a couple of idea with dryer lint.

I'm off to bed for now, gotta go and dream up ways to use my 3 R's.

Recession or Depression

What is going to happen? Will there be a recession or a depression? The gas prices around our area are horrible. On the low side, you can get regular unleaded with an 87% octane for $3.21 per gallon. On the high side you can get super unleaded with a 93% octane for $3.58 per gallon.

Now let's think about this a minute.

The average price of gas per gallon is $3.395.
Let's say that the average vehicle gets 20 miles to the gallon.
The average person has to drive 20 miles one way to work. And drives to work 5 days a week.

With me so far? Good!

In one week, the average person drives 200 miles round trip for work.
In one week, the average person uses 10 gallons of gas per week just driving round trip for work.
In one week, the average person has spent $33.95 on gas.

Now let's examine this a little more.

While the average person drives to work and back home, there are stops along the way. Stops meaning, stop signs, traffic lights, errands, waiting in traffic. All of these burn extra fuel. Just for kicks and giggles, let's throw in an extra 10 gallons of gas. I know it may sound like a lot, but when you think about it, it really isn't. Another 10 gallons of gas is gonna cost another $33.95.

I know some people don't drive, they take the bus. Yes the bus that gets right about 6 miles to the gallon. And you can get a bunch of people on one bus. What about the times you see the bus go by and there are only 3 on it. Hmmm...

What about all the semi trucks that are averaging 6 miles to the gallon? Diesel averages $3.60 per gallon. Figure that the average semi will travel an average of 1000 miles. Large fuel bill!
What about the fire departments, ambulance service, law enforcement. Ok - so they get their fuel at a discounted price. Darn good thing they do. Our local Sheriffs Office used over 16,000 gallons of fuel last month. Try paying that fuel bill.

I haven't even touched the price of a gallon of milk. On average, we pay $4.50 for a gallon of milk. Our family goes through 6 or 7 gallons of milk in one week. 6 gallons times $4.50 = $27.00 just for milk.

So many things that I have not even calculated. Really, I just touched base on 2 things, fuel and milk. Those are 2 of the most important things that I can think of besides water. And just you wait, with the higher usage of water and the less availability of it, I'm sure it will be on the list very soon.

Are the wages going up enough to keep up with the rising prices? I don't think so. What's going to happen? There are a lot of foreclosures going on right now too. Where will people live? Will the crime rate increase? Are we all in danger?

Only time will tell...

Our Outting Today

No kids today! I mean it, they stayed with Granny Karen today while Superman and I went and picked up one of their Christmas gifts. We are getting all 3 of the boys 4 wheelers for Christmas. We have told them over and over again that when they turn 15 that we will get them their very own 4 wheeler. Shoot, we had to tell them that or they wouldn't leave us alone about it. They have no clue! It was a long drive to go and pick them up and then to take them to my father in laws house. I was able to catch a little cat nap while Superman drove. I love napping when I am riding. Once we dropped off the 4 wheelers, we stopped by Toys R Us.

I think I may have told you that I am not much of a shopper. Put me in the grocery store or the craft store and I know just what I want and what the price should be. Put me in the mall or the toy store and I start with the panic attacks. Sometimes I really do want to scream. Prices and people - horrible. Darn good thing that Superman is good at this. I just kinda follow along and when he finds something that he thinks the boys will like we discuss it. And that's what we did today.
I am shocked that 8 boxes of toys was $225.

Oh the price increase is because of the increase of fuel. And them more excuses. Regardless of the reason for the price of things, it's horrible.

What's a Mom to Do

Today was a short day of school. I think in public school they call it early release. However, in all reality, homeschool is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Very few breaks. Homeschool is tough but let me tell you what, the lessons they learn are priceless.

Tonight was our 2nd Boy Scout meeting. I gotta say it sure was more organized tonight than last week. Thank goodness! Oh yeah - I have created a blog for our Troop! Troop 472

We have a couple of events planned for this month. On the 15th we will be having a yard sale. On the 16th we are going to Devils Millhopper.

Tonight we finished the voting for Quarter Master and Scribe. I am proud to say that WW was voted at Scribe. I think he will really be good at this too. And of course JD not to be out done had to run for Grub Master. I was wanting him to run for Historian, but he preferred the Grub Master side. LOL Next week we will be doing the voting on that.

And last but not least. And this is where I say "What's a mom to do?" MJ was caught cheating today. I gave them all short lessons today because we needed to work on some of the Christmas crafts for gifts. MJ finished his school work first, so I thought it would be a good idea to give him a Christmas activity book to work in for about 30 minutes. I heard "Mom, MJ's cheating!". I thought I would loose my cool. I mean really - last week JD cheated and couldn't go to the Boy Scout meeting and now this week MJ had to follow his brother. Why? He knew what would happen if he got caught. I'm just not gonna put up with it, no way, no how. Ain't happen Captain!

Ok, now for my time. I'm off of here to stick my head in the pillow and scream!

Easy Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookie Cutouts

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2-1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

4 rolls ring-shaped hard candies (44 candies), crushed

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Beat cream cheese, butter, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.

Add flour and baking soda; mix well.

Cover. Refrigerate 30 min.
ROLL dough to 1/8-inch thickness on lightly floured surface.

Cut into assorted shapes, using 3-inch cookie cutters.

Place on greased baking sheets.
BAKE 10 to 12 min. or until edges begin to brown.

Transfer to wire racks; immediately press about 1/2 tsp. of the crushed candies into top of each hot cookie.

Cool completely.

How to Crush Ring-Shaped Hard CandiesSeparate candies by color. Place one color in resealable plastic bag and crush using rolling pin or meat mallet. Repeat with remaining colors.

Cats and Trees

I thought by now that I would have some really funny things to tell you about our cats and our Christmas tree. Unfortunately, I don't have anything about our cats and our tree. I just knew that I would wake up Sunday morning with our tree laid over on it's side. I went to bed all prepared for the catastrophe. We had all talked about the possibility of finding Tigger at the top of the tree or even getting to the top and knocking the Angel off and somehow wearing the Angel. I suppose Tigger and the other cats have decided to leave the tree alone for now. I wonder if any of them will find themselves in the tree before Christmas is over?

Our Christmas Tree

We are in the process of decorating for Christmas. I'm not much in the mood, but that's a long story. Regardless of my mood, Christmas is on it's way. The boys are so excited about the whole Christmas thing. For them to have done without for so long, they deserve every happy moment that they have.

Friday - All 5 of us went out to eat and then off to buy Christmas decorations. I'm not sure who wanted the most decorations, Superman or the Boys. I think it may have been a tie. We didn't go over board at all, but we did get some really nice things. The decorations that we got are mostly for the tree, we did get a few for inside the house. We also bought a few presents, some of them are for the boys to make for their grandparents. The boys and I will be doing a few crafts for school work. We will all color a few pictures that we can hang up and of course the crafts for gifts.

Saturday - Time to get a tree. We went to a Christmas Tree Farm to find the perfect tree for us. Why a tree farm? I am more an artificial tree person myself, but Superman is all for the real thing. Superman likes the smell, he is the one that does most of the work with cutting it and hauling it, so I am ok with that. What really amazed me about our tree is that it only cost $25. A 7 foot Christmas tree for $25. Now I like that. Especially when the places around town are asking $75 and more.

We walked and walked, looking for the perfect tree. You could tell that most people didn't walk very far from the little shed where you picked up a saw and a cart to carry your tree. I guess the walking and smelling the fresh air was just way too much for them. Not for us! We walked some more. Then we turned around and went back to the front of the property. Then we turned around and walked back down the rows of trees. They were all so beautiful and it was a tough decision.

Finally, we decided on which tree to take home. It had an aroma that was so strong, it smelled of the outdoors and of the tree itself. This is it we all said - this is our special tree. So we start the process of cutting it down. Everyone had the chance to saw a little bit. Once it was cut, we loaded it on a cart and took it to the shed. Once we got to the shed, the tree was put on a shaker machine - this shakes all the dead nettles out of it, then it was wrapped with some type of net material - this is to hold it together for the drive home. We loaded it on the car and off down the road we went.

Once we got home we took the tree off of the top of the car, carried it to the front door and then started getting it into the stand. Once it was inside we had to adjust it. We all worked together to make everything come together nicely.

We set up the video camera and that's when the fun began. Shoot, we haven't even watched the video yet, but I can tell you right now, it's gonna be fall-on-the-floor-split-your-sides-laughing-funny. No doubt about it.

Here we all are in front of the tree. What tree? Next year we may all have to sit in front of the tree, just to be able to see it.

Amish Furniture

I love the look and feel of home made and hand made items. One of my favorite is Amish furniture. Amish furniture if strong, beautiful, useful and earth friendly. Yes - earth friendly. The Amish construct the furniture by hand, one piece at a time. Imagine furniture made so well that it can stand the test of time. Imagine being able to pass down a beautiful Hope Chest or a Mission Tiffany Lamp.

If you love the look and feel of Amish Furniture, then check out the awesome products at Barn Furniture Mart. You will not be disappointed!