Valentines Day

Yes, I know that Valentine's Day is over for another year but I've been giving it a lot of thought these past few weeks and it's still on my mind. 

My parents had a rough marriage.  They seemed so unhappy and miserable and you often wondered why they stayed married.  They fought something horrible and often times it was ugly. 

Yet, after they passed away and us kids were cleaning the estate, we stumbled upon the most astonishing sight.  Tucked away high up in the broom closet was a stash of old Valentine candy boxes.  Covered with dust and grime from being stored for so many years, they sat with untold love and promises. 

They were beautiful boxes.  With ribbon and flowers adorning the top of it.  Many boxes were covered with felt or satin.  Even in this old stage of their life, they were still beautiful boxes.  And my mom had kept them, through all the fights, all the ugliness that was their marriage.

Us kids went through the house and picked items we wanted to keep in the family but no one picked the Valentine boxes.  It greatly saddens me that us kids didn't see through all the fighting and our perceived opinion of their marriage, to recognize that there was love.  And lots of it.  My dad was a romantic.  My mom cherished his gifts.  I wish I had grabbed those dusty, dirty hearts and kept that part of their marriage alive rather than the memories of all their fighting. 

Later!
Nancy

How many times have I stopped and started blogging again over the years....  I have to say, I miss it when I'm not posting. 

I've been writing most of my life.  When life was tough, I resorted to putting my thoughts down in a journal.  One journal led to two and then another and another.  Over the years, I had quite the accumulation of my thoughts on paper.  And a lot of them weren't anything I wanted to share with my kids so when they grew up, I tossed most of them.  I regretted doing it... as it was my life.... but so much of it was my married life of which wasn't good.  I didn't want my kids to read about it.

Then I found blogging and fell in love with it!  What I find interesting about it all is that I hate to talk.  I'm not much a talker.  I don't pick up the phone and call people.  I don't like groups of people.  I don't find myself amusing, interesting, or especially intelligent, yet I can usually find something interesting to blog about! I feel like I'm a totally different person when I blog as the words just flow out of me.  Go figure. 

I might try blogging again.  I have alot to report since my last post so very long ago.  I need an avenue to express myself and this fits.  Plus, it's a lot faster than keeping a written journal! 

I hope you come along for the ride and see what we're up to here in the Far North.  Maybe you'll find our lives amusing... maybe pathetic!  Maybe you'll have a good laugh or two over the antics of our babysitting career....  This is our life and I wouldn't change it. 

Later! 
Nancy

Our New Woodstove

Woo hoo!  I'm going to be warm this winter!  Woo hoo Woo hoo!  That's me, doing the happy dance!

For years, my hubby and I have had discussions of an alternative heat source for the house.  When we moved into this house, there was electric heat and a Monitor stove.  We knew we wouldn't be using electric heat and the Monitor was old and not efficient. 

So we installed a boiler.  My husband thought that was the solution to my problem of always being cold. 

But it wasn't. 

So two years ago we applied for a state energy audit and the experts came in and did their tests and outlined all the steps we needed to do to take our cute little cottage from a two ** to a four ****.  So we did. 

It didn't help.  I was still cold.  And it didn't matter if it was winter or summer or spring or fall.  I'm always cold. 

So this year I finally convinced my hubby that a wood stove, not a pellet stove or an oil stove, but a wood stove is what we need.  This has been my mantra for years now.  Something we can cook on when the power it out, to warm our clothes on a cold winter's day, to dry out our mittens after shoveling snow for hours.  It would cut our oil bill down considerably which was another major consideration. 

For whatever reason, he jumped on board and immediately had a wood shed built and firewood delivered.  Now the fun of stacking it although I have to say I wasn't allowed to help....  I guess it's a "man's" job..... But I do I find myself going out to look at it and feel proud of our wood pile.  I can feel the warmth! 

No, I couldn't help pile the wood, but my little grandson could!  Look at him go!  He filled his little 150 Ford truck with wood, then drove it to the woodshed, helped unload, came back for another load.  This little guy worked! 

This is our wood stove.  Nothing fancy.  We were asked if we wanted the gold trim.... no....  Any fancy attachments?  No.....  This is a work horse as far as I'm concerned.  We got it for one reason and one reason only.  To stay warm. 

And for the first time in years, I've been warm.  I sit in my rocker in front of it and read, enjoying the warmth that creeps through every part of my body.  Eventually, we'll look at the thermostat and it'll be 75 degrees or hotter, and I'm just comfortably warm.  That just goes to show how cold I've been if my new norm is 75! 

I'm looking forward to winter for the first time. To being warm during winter, for the first time. 

Later....  Nancy

This Week With the Grandkids

We had a really busy week with the grandkids. 
Lots of fresh air.
School time.
And long naps.
I have to admit that I've not yet gotten used to their pre-school schedule and not having them here all day, all week. 
And even though they're in pre-school two mornings a week, I still want the rest of their time at Grandmas to be special, productive, and worthy. 

So this week we bundled up and gathered leaves from the yard and up the road a ways to make a special Fall decoration for their mommies and dads. 

I had to laugh as we went walking down the road and Ellis, carrying her basket to put leaves in, goes, "I'm Little Red Riding Hood!"

Would that make Hunter the Big Bad Wolf.....?

Both kids love craft time, but I think Hunter has a better time.

Especially when there's glitter involved!

He really concentrates when he's working on crafts, whether it's a painting project or stringing beads.

Our project this week was to string pretty Fall leaves onto autumn-colored braided string (for a better description). 

I had already added the pretty beads to it so all the kids had to do was stick the leaf stem up into the beads, which would hold them in place. 

Aunt Georgia, the one on the left is for you!  Ellis made you a Fall decoration, but after I explained that the leaf was going to dry and become crumbly and it wouldn't make it to Kalama, she opted to have a picture taken of her holding it up for you.

So there you have it!  Enjoy! 

Ellis made several "leaves" that she was going to share with her mom and daddy. 

Hunter hasn't decided, yet, who he's giving his leaves to.  He thought maybe Grandma Wendy or Grandma Jill.  The decisions of a three year old. 

Regardless, they were both so very proud of their projects.

And this little darlin is Avery. 

 It's one of the few pictures I have of her because she's always moving so quickly. 

All I seem to get is a picture of her ear.  Or her hair.  Or her jacket.  Or her butt.  Something other than a cute picture of this adorable little girl.

But rest assured, we DO have a third grandchild that we take care of! 

Ellis got into sending emails this past week (or maybe it was last week....).
She sat at my computer and just typed away. 
Every few seconds, she would hesitate.  Then with her index finger would hit the bracket key.  Then the B key.  Then continue typing away.
A few seconds later, she'd do the same thing.
With the same keys.
As if she actually knew what she was doing. 
She's certainly watched her mom (or maybe me) type!
We sent off emails to her mom, dad, Grandma MiMi and Grandpa Steve, Aunt Georgia, and Josh and Shodie.
And was thrilled to get responses back!
So much, that I got a kiss! 
I'm sorry if you weren't on her initial list of emails, but maybe next time. 

Later....  Nancy

This is why I don't have anything nice!

They start out so cute.
And I have to admit, I love my Chippy.
I feed him peanuts.

But he's started chewing up my outside tablecloths! 

He's yanking and pulling with all his might, trying to get the cotton backing off.

I know he's lining his nest somewhere, and I'm almost tempted to just throw some cotton out for him.  Maybe he'll leave my tablecloths alone.

He probably thinks I'm the nicest person ever to provide this nesting material for him.

So I let him.  The tablecloth is ruined now, anyway. 
Later!  Nancy

Good Reads

Fall is hitting us head on!  The leaves are falling.  It's windy.  The days of all daylight are turning into shorter days with less daylight.  Pretty soon we'll be winterizing our gardens and tidying up the place in preparation for winter. 

Then I can sit back and read. 

I don't have a lot of free time in the summer.  I mean, it's daylight all night long.  We're busy busy.  We're trying to get projects done and enjoying life while the weather is nicer.  But I don't generally read much in the summer. 

This time of year, though, I start thumbing through my piles of books to select the next few to read.  I'm a light reader.  I don't like to invest a lot of energy into reading a book that I have to contemplate and I certainly don't like books where I have to analyze what's being said!  Just give me a good read.  It can be a romance, a western, a comedy, a true story, a mystery.  It can be about dogs, or other countries, wars, or the Oregon Trail.  It just needs to be light otherwise they'll only put me to sleep.  Actually, all books do, put me to sleep.  As soon as I start reading, my eyelids will get heavy. 

I've read some really good books this past year.  I actually keep a list of the books I've read throughout the year and rate them with stars.  Yes, I'm pathetic, I know!  But those books that I rate a three of four star (****) are books I will keep in my library to reread. 

Like Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay.  Good.  Good.  Good.  This was a 4**** book. Sadly, I did give this book away and I don't know why.  Now I'll have to buy another copy.


Some of my other favorite reads are books that are centered around cooking, like Francesca's Kitchen by Peter Pezzelli and .  And The School of  Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister.  I love books about cooking because they're always centered around love, family, or romance. 

I also love book series.  The Mitford series by Jan Karon is one of my long-time favorite series.  Every year when the next book comes out, I re-read all the previous books before I'll read the newest.  Course, after doing this every year, they get to be pretty fast reads because I already know all the characters and what's going to happen next.  But series draw me in and I feel like I know the characters.  The Cedar Cove series by Debbie Macomber is another favorite series of mine.  These series take me away into a place where I'm comfortable. 

I love romance novels....  I'm such a sucker for a good romance.  Like Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks. I love all Nicholas Sparks books, but just recently got rid of all of them.  There are some books that I love, but don't re-read over and over because they're so similar to any other romance book out there.   They're a dime a dozen. 


Then there's books about dogs.  I have a couple in my library that make me laugh and cry.  Running to the Mountains and A Dog Year by Jon Katz.  If you're a dog lover, check out these two books. 


I'm also drawn to historical novels.  Not non-fiction, but fiction about the real events.  One of the best I've read recently was Moloka'i by Alan Brennert.  A good, good book about the Leper colony of Hawaii. 


So there you have it.  Some of my favorite reads.  These are all books I'll keep in my library.  The books I didn't keep, aren't worth mentioning, I guess! 

What are some good books you've read recently?  Nancy

Ash Spirea

Isn't this beautiful? 
It's Ash Spirea.
It comes into its glory about this time of the year to give me something to drool over.

It starts out with little droplets of white beads. 

A neighbor took some cuttings for wedding bouquets she was making.

I bet it was gorgeous.

The plant itself gets to be 10' tall and makes a great hedge and barrier.

It can also be considered invasive because it sends out runners for 3' in all directions.

I've decided to let it take over this particular garden as I love it that much.

Soon, it will change colors and I'll have a wall of oranges.

I'll share Fall pictures soon. 

Later!  Nancy