Family

“Me” Time

Posted on by Melissa

After chores tonight I needed a little “me” time. With supper in the crockpot, I stole away to the basement.

Last Fall, I had taken a painting class. All by myself! I saw it offered on Facebook and signed up and went. Sometimes you just need to do that.

And I had a great time painting my pumpkins! I was as proud as a peacock when I came home and showed my family. 🙂

Pumpkins

Now, I don’t know that my pumpkins were all that great, but I wanted to do that again sometime. In fact, before I left that night I asked the instructor if I could host my own party?

And the following month, that’s just what I did. I had a dozen or so friends and family over for my very own painting party!

We had a ton of fun painting a happy little snowman! I loved how we could choose whatever colors we wanted and make our snowman tall or fat or…  whatever it turned out to be!

This is what my finished snowman looked like…

Snowman

But I also LOVED how everyone else’s turned out too! And they were all just a little different!

So back to tonight.

I came downstairs to the drawer full of acrylic paints and brushes I bought after my party. They were still in the wrappers, along with the various sizes of blank canvases I bought too.

So after doing a little thinking about what I wanted to paint, I decided I wanted to do a night scene with our barn in the background.

This is what it ended up to be…

Night Barn Painting

It turned out a lot like the post I did last week. You can read about it here.

I still wanted to paint one more picture, so I found a picture that made my heart a little happier. And then I went to work creating it in my own style.

Flowering Tree Painting

This one was fun because I got to use my fingertips to create all the colored dots!

Now… A question for you…

Have you done anything lately worth remembering

Taking One for the Team

Posted on by Melissa

Family is pretty important to us, and we’ve always tried to support our girls in whatever they are a part of.

Whether it was 4-H, church, sports, FFA… You name it and we were there. (Maybe a little late, but we were there, ha ha)

Last Fall, Chelsey joined the Fair Board. We have been hearing how they are working hard to get everything planned and booked for the upcoming fair in August. Sounds like she’s been attending lots of meetings and doing her part to help where she can.

She mentioned to her dad during milking the other morning that she was working at BINGO this Sunday and that we should come.

So yesterday he told me about their conversation and he said he was like “Yeah, right. BINGO isn’t my thing.” (I can just see him shaking his head like “No. Way.”)

Besides, I’m sure he already had made his own plans… a Sunday afternoon nap!

And knowing that’s not the kind of thing he would get excited about, I asked him if we were going… and he says “I guess so!”

I couldn’t help but laugh!

And so he asks me if I was going too? And I said “I guess I’ll have to take one for the team too.” 🙂

We rounded up the troops… Cozie, Reed, Kayla (and a friend), Chelsey’s husband Jason, Dan and I… and we headed to the fairgrounds to play BINGO!

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Well, we didn’t win. But we did support Chelsey and the Fayette County Fair!

And we know that THEY win when all of us do our part!

Perfect 10 in the Half Pike!

Posted on by Melissa

Winter visited while we were sleeping last night and spread a blanket of heavy, wet snow in our neck of the woods.

The trees that fill the horizon every way you look were a snowy white, with a glittery shine. We had gotten a good 2 to 3 inches on the ground.

As I carried a sleepy boy down our front yard to the barn this morning, who knew that I was secretly training for the next winter Olympics!?! Not even I!!!

Where the grass meets the gravel there’s a slight ledge. And a downhill slope. And that…  should be enough information for you to guess what happened.

I hit that sucker like a banana peel and up in the air I went!

I’m pretty sure I landed perfectly horizontal! A perfect 10!

Reed wasn’t so happy with my landing. As I was perfecting my form, I probably squeezed him awake before we even hit the ground! He looked at me like “What the heck just happened?”

And I let out a loud groan…. Crap.

It was too early in the morning for me to ask Kayla, who I had seen over by the condo as I was coming down the yard, to score my landing. She rushed over to help me up, but I convinced her that I was just going to lay there for a couple minutes.

After I rolled over, curled my spine, and listened to see how many vertebrae popped, I thought maybe I could make it to the barn to tell my Olympic tale.

What a way to start the day. Well, at least it got better…

Dan, Reed and I headed to Fredericksburg to serve frozen yogurt at the schools today. (Click on the red words to see pictures)

We had great help, which always makes it lots of fun.

We also stopped by the Mennonite School near our house and served the kids and teachers there a dish of frozen yogurt. The appreciation you get from everyone sure makes it worth doing!

We had about an hour to relax when we got home before we had to start chores. We headed outside a little early so we could get to our Dairy Promotion Board Meeting tonight.

While my feed was mixing in the TMR, I had a couple minutes to play with Reed in the snow.

Reed and sled

There’s a spot in our yard that has a deep hill and the snow was packed just enough to make it really slippery! I tried not to repeat this morning’s performance as I showed him how to start at the very top to get lots of speed!

He giggled and giggled and had a great time sledding all through chores!

Reed on Sled

It was funny to see how his sledding progressed… He started sledding on his bottom at first, then drove it down the hill like a chariot, holding the reins. By the time he was done, he was snow surfing!

You’ll have to stop by my Facebook Page to see the video! (Click on the red words)

As the night gets late, I’m starting to get a little stiff from my (Perfect 10!) landing. Ya know, it’s too bad I couldn’t have gotten that on video!

But then again… I like to think there’s a reason for everything !)

She said “Yes” to the dress!!!

Posted on by Melissa

It has been quite the year for weddings! From June to November, we had 8 weddings to attend! Now that’s a lot of weddings in 6 month’s time!

New Year’s Day of last year, our oldest daughter, Chelsey got engaged to Jason! We had a great time planning and getting ready for their Labor Day weekend wedding!

This year is stacking up to be another year of frequent weddings!

Just before Christmas, our middle daughter, Nichole, aka Cozie, got engaged to her long-time boyfriend, Chase! Another wedding in our family this year!

They have set a date for a 10-10-15 wedding (easy to remember, eh?) so the planning has begun!

Nichole & Chase
Nichole & Chase

Twice now I have been invited to go with her and her bridesmaids dress shopping. It’s been lots of fun as she decides what appeals to her and what doesn’t.

The first time we went shopping, she fell in love with the first dress she tried on. And fell in love with the second dress! And the third one she loved more than the first and second!

I thought for sure whichever dress she tried on last was destined to be the one!

Rumor Dress
One of the dresses she loved. Well, she loved them all! Ha!

She had vowed not to “Say YES to the dress” this round of shopping so we switched gears and the bridesmaids got to try on some of her picks for their dresses.

This one was a favorite among the ones that she saw. (In a different color of course)
This one was a favorite among the ones that she saw. (In a different color of course)

Then one night last week we traveled to another nearby dress shop to see what else was available. Road trip! We had all the ladies in the wedding party along and had a great time!

Cozie went down the whole wall of dresses and pulled out several she thought she would try on. Then into the dressing room she went!

The first dress she came out in… well, you could tell she just didn’t love it. The next dress had her so twisted up we thought she’d never come out of the dressing room! She was laughing so hard that she could hardly stand up straight on the pedestal to get a picture!

Another dress she tried on, she couldn’t stop holding onto the top of it! Oh did we laugh!!!!

She was almost to the end of the ones she picked out, when Holly the owner, brought one more in.

And this time when Cozie walked out of the dressing room, we knew it was “the one.” Her eyes welled up and she was biting her lip and she said “This is it! This is the one!”

🙂

She lit up with pride as she turned in the mirror to admire all sides of it. It fit almost perfectly and was a beautiful choice!

Of course, I can’t show you what her dress looks like. But take my word for it, she will be one beautiful bride as she walks down the aisle in that dress!

After Cozie had made her final decision, the girls had a great time trying on all of the bridesmaid dress styles that were available… and ohhhhhhhhh did we laugh!

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Throughout the night I just couldn’t get over how much the dress shop owner and Cozie looked alike! It was like they were mother and daughter!

Cozie's long, lost mother?!?
Cozie’s long, lost mother?!?

She did a great job for us and it was a great experience.

We ended the night sharing a meal at Johnson’s.

girls at supper

What a great time we had picking out dresses! And now… on to decorations 🙂

BBQ Baby Back Beef Ribs, Oh My!

Posted on by Melissa

The day before Chris and Mom visited, I made 3 long slabs of Beef Baby Back Ribs. I love having our own Beef in the freezer and tend to store up these cuts for special occasions.

I figured putting up with the cold was a good enough occasion!

So here is how I made these fork-tender, exceptionally seasoned,  finger-lickin’ ribs.

  1. Season the whole slab on the meaty side with Cavender’s Greek Seasoning and Lawry’s Seasoning Salt. Pat it down with your hands so the seasoning stays on.
  2. Cut the ribs in between the bones to get single pieces
  3. Sear the ribs in a skillet, meaty side down, until golden
  4. Add them to a tall stock pot after seared
  5. Fill the pot with water so all the ribs are covered
  6. Add a Tablespoon of salt, a good dash of pepper, plenty of liquid smoke, and a sliced onion.
  7. Bring to a full boil (you will keep it uncovered the whole time)
  8. Turn down to low, just so it’s barely bubbling, and let it simmer all afternoon (Add water, if needed, to keep the ribs covered)
  9. Before heading out for chores I turned it off so it could cool.
  10. When I got back in I turned the oven on to 350 degrees
  11. Drain off all of the water and dispose of it (Do not put this down your sink!)
  12. Cover a sheet pan with foil and spray it with cooking spray
  13. Place the ribs on the sheet pan
  14. Squirt a line of Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce down each rib
  15. With the back of a spoon, spread the BBQ sauce over the whole top of the rib
  16. Bake 20 to 30 minutes until heated through and the BBQ has set
  17. Enjoy!
Beef Ribs
I’m not sure this picture does them justice, but boy were they good!

I happened to have a couple left when Mom and Chris stopped by so naturally, I had to get mom’s opinion…

Mom gave me good reviews as she easily pulled them apart with her fork
Mom gave good reviews as they easily pulled apart with her fork! “Mmmm… Tender!”

This is the kind of meal you wish you could have more often, but as my husband says…

“They take some time to make, but they sure are good!”

Surprise Visitors!

Posted on by Melissa

Now getting visitors around here is nothing new.

But, having family members stop is super special!

We were just getting started on chores the other night when I got a phone call from my Mom. She and my sister weren’t too far from our place, attending a party at a friend’s house, and wanted to stop over.

I was totally excited! It’s not everyday they come to visit us! Usually we stop and visit them on our way to volleyball, but rarely are we on the way anywhere for them.

We hurried up and got most everything done before they pulled in the yard. Reed, who had been napping in the milk house, hopped up and stumbled towards the house after hearing that Grandma Martha and Aunt Chrissy were here 🙂

My sister Chris… aka “Aunt Chrissy”

After we all got in and got the rundown of their afternoon trip, I asked Mom if she wanted to play a game of cards.

Now, there’s only one game my mom and I ever play, so she didn’t even need to ask what I had in mind.

Pinochle.

A game our family has played and cussed for years. The first round always consists of a refresher in scoring and card order, as Ace is high, then Ten, King, Queen, Jack and a Nine. And the first one to 150 wins!

Weird, I know. But fun!

I’ll try to give you just the highlights of how our game went…

The first hand I actually bid! (Mom was shocked, as I’m usually a chicken at bidding, especially the first hand) After her shock, she (of course) outbid me… Crap! This should have been a sign!

The way the cards fell in her favor, she easily made it. And I was kinda glad she outbid me, even though I had initially thought my cards would clean up!

The next hand I dealt. Boyyyyyyy was it a crappy hand! She bid 28 and I let her have it. She picked up the 3-card Kitty to see what was in it… and guess what it gave her? The 4th leg of a

A DOUBLE Pinochle! and 30 points!

DOUBLE Pinochle! and 30 points!

Double Crap!

Her melt totaled 42 points! 42!!! And then she took 17 out of the 25 points during that round! (I really should’ve just thrown in my cards then, ha ha!)

In the next 3 hands, I only got the bid once. I used the phrase “Piggy” an awful lot too (which is a family tradition, might I say!) as she took pointer after pointer each trick.

See? Even if you don’t play Pinochle, the numbers below don’t lie…

Pinochle Score

Yep. I got skunked in just FIVE hands! And Mom just giggles and says “Well, you were the one who wanted to play!” 🙂

My Mom… I just love her! The thrill she got out of getting that Double Pinochle was priceless.

Tonight I made some memories with Mom I will never forget.

It’s the little things in life, right?