A beautiful snowstorm!

This is the first really significant snowstorm we've received--with really COLD temps. Like -2 with a wind chill way below that! Brrrrr!!!!! Watching the snow fall, was beautiful--they were such large, pretty flakes swirling around in the air! We ended up with six or seven inches.

Yep, Dad's still out there keeping an eye on cattle!

Evidence of Spring!

Fluffy clouds!

Wispy clouds!

Happy cows & calves!

Blue skies!

Diminishing woodpile!

Patches of green!

Tractor tire tracks!

Mittens (before she rolled in the dirt!)

Apricot tree!

Full of blooms!

White and beautiful!

One little bloom!

Lots of wind & bad hair days! ;)

Signs that Spring is here to stay!

blooming lilac bushes

flipflops

green grass & blue skies

luscious flowers

a good roll in the dirt

Dad working outside with Lady taking in the sun nearby

To Colorado and back

My Easter weekend trip to Colorado turned out to be fun and exciting as usual! I had several reasons for making this trip to CO and was able to get all those accomplished. Hooray!

Snickers - Joanna wanted one of my Siamese kittens and since she didn't want another Skittles (have I mentioned that Scamper is the exact replica of Skittles??), Snickers is the one! He did really well traveling the 6 hours and the trip went by really quickly. The fact that my attention was on this little four-legged furball probably helped that fact greatly. He was a little fussy getting started, but soon settled down on my lap, above my head or around my neck and was content.

Here are some pics and yes, I did take these while I was driving, but I was careful! :) My only fear is that I would get stopped and a police officer would see this cat near my head. I'm sure I would have been in trouble...more pics are here....

he started out in my lap...

then moved to the headrest...

and onto my head for the remainder of the trip!

He's adjusted very well at Joanna's house. It took Zippy (Joanna's cat) a few days to adjust to this little white rat running around all over her room, but they seem to have become friends. As long as Snickers doesn't steal all of Zippy's places to sleep, he'll be fine. And Zippy latched onto Snicker's toy mouse that I brought. :)

sleeping with Joanna

sleeping on top of us while we were watching a movie

Denver Fabrics - How can I not go to Colorado and not visit Denver Fabrics? I suppose it is possible, but that would be disappointing. But I did really have a valid reason for going. Really. Honestly. And it wasn't just more fabric for me, although I did find some. Don't laugh, cause Joanna found some too. :)

I managed to get a couple pieces for a bedspread I am stitching for a customer. And I found the perfect combination of fabrics for bathroom curtains. I've looked all over here and online and haven't found a thing. But what I did find was perfect and I love it and the stripe fabric was even on sale (reg. 22.00, sale 7.00)! How fantastic is that?!?! I was hoping for something striped, but didn't think I would find it.

Fabric for bathroom curtains - see that stripe?! I love it and it blends well with the green solid and towels (it looks better in person than this photo!)

Ok, I will admit, I did find some pieces for me. I'll even show you what I bought and it's not that much. Plus I can't get quality, inexpensive garment fabric around here, so I stock up when I can.

Black with pink stripe - What can I say - it's black! And you know I never have enough black stuff to wear! But this has a pink stripe which makes it unique.

Black sparkle sheer - I'm not sure what I'm doing with this, but I loved it. And if I didn't get it, Joanna was going to, so of course, I did. ;)

Gray plaid - Joanna actually picked this one up and then decided that she didn't need it since she had like 8 yards of it at home, so I took it.

Brown embroidered suede - This just feels so nice and I love the embroidery!

Now this is not typical me. The eyelash knit caught my eye because of the color - a beautiful aqua/blue! It just looked so spring looking. Then Joanna found the wild print on the left to go with it. It's quite bold with it's large yellow, orange and green floral print, but it does match the blue really well. I'm still not sure about the print and looking at it in this photo versus in person is not improving my opinion on it. But I'll make a skirt out of it and see how it turns out.

The Thorn - Ok, perhaps my main reason for going to Colorado was to see the Thorn, which is a theatrical production depicting Jesus' death and resurrection. It was excellent! If you ever get a chance to go, you should!

I planned to go to church Sunday morning with Joanna and then start for home, but the weather did not cooperate with my plans. Joanna kept saying on Friday that I would get snowed in and wouldn't be able to return home Sunday and guess what happened? Yep, you couldn't have planned it any better, Joanna! ;) (btw, I know she's reading this! lol!) We ended up getting a full 8" of wet, heavy snow and we did not go anywhere on Sunday. Monday morning was bright and sunny and was the perfect weather for driving home.

My car was covered with snow; of course it was the one with the most!

And while we were getting snow in CO, it was pouring rain here in Kansas. Yes, pouring! Dad said we got 2 1/2"! Praise the Lord for that because we needed it so badly!

Skittles and Scamper back home were a little lost without Snickers and of course, me. The moment I walked in the door, Skittles was in the kitchen to greet me. As usual, she looked thinner than when I left. She's most certainly a one person cat and if I'm not home, she's not happy. Especially if Jena is home.

One last blast of winter!

After enjoying unusually nice weather for the past several weeks, the winter blizzard that hit us was quite a shock. Not only did we get some snow (our first snow of 2009!), but also high winds which caused blizzard conditions.

Friday basically everything around us was shut down as visibility was 0. Yep, just imagine: 15" of snow with 50 mph wind gusts. Nope, you won't see a thing 6 feet in front of you. Even thought we could have done without the high winds, the moisture is wonderful and we are so thankful for that!

Dad spent just about all day Saturday and Sunday (church was even canceled) clearing driveways, digging out fences and rounding up cattle because of all the drifting snow. By now the majority of the snow has melted, so it was a quick blast of winter and hopefully the last. I'm ready for spring!

Here's a few pics and you can see more here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=98600&id=611533155&l=33d7b6081d

Lady and I in the snow!

Those are 6' drifts behind those trees!

Quite a pile of snow!

Bits and pieces

Today has been freezing. I mean freezing cold! Dad just came in from checking the cattle this afternoon and said it was 13 degrees without the wind chill. With that cold wind blowing right by you, it's probably around zero. Whatever it is, it's cold!

Jena left for Oklahoma City this morning. She is spending several days with Briann, one of her friends from the hospital, who is going to college there. They plan on doing some shopping and spending some good times together. They should have plenty of time considering that she's not coming home til Friday.

Last week we had our Kid's Club Christmas party. It was such fun and the kids enjoyed the last evening of the year! And it's nice for us to have a Christmas break. I've got some pics and other details to share, but since Jena has the pics on her camera and of course her camera and computer are with her down south, I can't post them. But I will soon!

Speaking of her computer...everyone who has a computer, listen up! (Kinda silly remark considering that you must have computer to be reading this! :)) Be SURE you have antivirus software on your computer! I spent several hours last week trying to get all the virus and hacks off Jena's. Her computer was so bogged down with all of it, that it kept doing weird things as suddenly freezing, shutting down, etc. To make it even more difficult, it locked me out of the Internet, which made it all the harder trying to track down the problems and fix them. There's still a bunch of work left to do on it to get it back in running order, but at least she can get online and do a few things.

So keep your antivirus software up-to-date. Yes, it does cost $40-$100 every year, but it is most certainly worth it! Especially if I'm the one who has to do the repair work. Did I mention that I charge $100 an hour for computer repair? :) Trust me; it's much more cost effective to prevent the viruses as much as possible in the beginning than trying to fix it later!

And for those of you who use Internet Explorer, switch to FireFox. I know it takes a bit of getting used to, but it is well worth it. Most of us, me included, just use IE because that is what is on every computer that we buy. I got so frustrated with IE and finally completely moved over to FF, which is much easier, much more secure and has more fun options to it's browser. Most certainly worth it!

Well, Dad and I went to church this morning, ate at Arby's for lunch and have been home for the rest of the day. I've watched my game of football for the day. Took a nap for the week (Sunday is about the only day I allow myself to take a nap in the afternoon!). Planned my Sunday School lesson for next week. Now I'm ready to finish up a few Christmas cards and by then I'm sure the day will be nearing the end.

A fantastic Sunday afternoon

After lunch I settled down on the couch with a blanket, pillow and computer with background noise of football on tv. It would rain for a while, then slow down to only sprinkles and then start really raining again.

Dad watched football with me as well!

Our driveway and front yard became almost a lake at one point. There's a low spot there and whenever it rains fairly hard in a short period of time (rarely does that happen!), that's the first little spot to fill up with water. It's rather nice to sit indoors, all safe and secure and hear the rain falling on the roof.

rain, rain!

and more and more rain!

The moment I woke up this morning and sensed the rainy, cloudy day, I knew today would be an excellent day for baking. Actually any day is a perfect day for baking in my mind; I love to bake! But there are days that are better than others; like cool, cloudy days. Make sense?? Yep, does to me!

A computer is now considered a common kitchen gadget! :)

We really didn't need any cookies, but I couldn't resist. Oatmeal cookies are my favorite, especially the cookie dough. I admit there are delicious baked as well, but nothing can beat fresh oatmeal cookie dough. The dough is so light, white and fluffy (shortening is the key ingredient for the white and fluffiness)!

Part of the reason I crave oatmeal cookie dough is because of the texture. I'm not quite sure why, but I have always had a weakness for white, fluffy baked goodies! I can remember telling Mom that I wanted my birthday cake to be white with white frosting, lots of white, fluffy frosting. Nothing else, just white. To Mom, that sounded rather tasteless. But to me....yum-wonderful!

That's not to say that chocolate is not at all an option, because that's second on the list! But if I go somewhere and there is a choice of white or chocolate cake, usually I will choose the white, fluffy one. Sounds strange, unusual, not normal, I know. But then whoever said I was normal?!?! Wait, don't answer that! :)

Let's add a few rice crispies...

looks very good!

tastes very good too!

I ended up baking one pan full of oatmeal cookies and then freezing the remainder of the dough for future snacking or cookies. Just remember, our freezer also contains frozen cookie dough! :) And while those were baking, I typed up our menu for the week.

Overall it was a relaxing, peaceful Sunday afternoon!

menu planning for the week...

Skittles is never too far away...:)

It looks like May instead of August

With our recent rain, Dad actually had to mow the lawn on Friday! I was doing some cooking in the kitchen and all of a sudden heard the mower. I looked outside and yep, Dad was mowing. The lawn looks so green and spring looking! You would think it's May instead of the end of August!

Finally...rain and more rain!

After a couple months of dry, hot weather....it finally cooled down a little and we received some rain last week! Over an inch!!! Praise the Lord!!! We needed it so badly! Dad even sold some cattle last week (the day before it rained, of course!) because he just didn't have enough grass for all of them.

Thankfully the weather has cooled down as well. I could not believe it this morning as I stepped outside to go into church...it was actually cold outside! And coming home at noon the temp. in our van said 69 degrees. 69 degrees!!! Can you believe that...in Kansas...in the middle of August?!?! Wonderful!! :)

It never felt so fantastic to look out my sewing room window
and actually see the rain against the window!!