December 31st.... Goodbye 2009

Wow. Another year come and gone... so much has happened... some I have blogged about, some I haven't.

An update of our goings on since I last blogged are as follows:

On November 26th, our son called and told us that his gf was being taken to the hospital because she had eclampsia, and they were probably going to induce her labor. So off I went to the hospital, and Thanksgiving Day, our precious little Roselynn Kay was born, at 3lbs 6oz.. A tiny wee thing.... and so many prayed for her continued health and to thrive....

Anyway... she did very well, as did my daughter in law (they plan to be married soon), and lilbit continued to thrive, although her weight dropped to 2lbs 10oz at one time. She never did need oxygen, or anything else.... wide eyed and alert from day one, she was perfect...

Then, one night while at work, I get a call from our daughter telling me that Dad had fallen and cut himself pretty bad and had went to the hospital. So off I go..... turns out, hubby had slipped on our kitchen floor while coming in from the back porch, and while trying to keep himself from hitting the floor, put his hand through the back door glass, and then the rest of the glass came down on his hand like a guillotine. As it ended up, he sliced through 3 tendons, and had to have surgery to have them reattached.... all this on the day of my pinning from nursing school.

But once again, thank the good Lord that he is now well, and today we bagan his therapy. Sutures are out, and although he does have to wear a brace, he is able to move his fingers again, and the doc says everything looks good....

And, as I said..... I have graduated from nursing school, turned in all of my paperwork to take my boards for my RN, and am just waiting for my "Authorization to Test". A s soon as I have that, I'll be able to set up an appointment to take my state test and get it done! Once and for all! Yea!  ;)

We did have a good Christmas, even though DH had to work.... we were frugal this year with giving grown children tins of homebaked goodies and only buying for the grandchildren....

Took gd to visit Santa one evening....

She wouldn't see Santa, so Grandma had to be there too. Of course, Grandpa had to get in on the action...LOL! And then we went to visit al the lights and pretties around in the park.Soon after, and almost an entire month in the hospital, we get a call from our son who says that a beautiful little girl can come home! HOME!!!!

Of course, they came to Grandma's for awhile..... and here are those pics....

Grandma and Miss Rose...

And Grandpa and Miss Rose.....

And of course... the happy family......

Mom and a couple of the youngins..... the biggest and the littlest.... This is me, our son, Jerry (age 27) and our daughter Abigail (age 15). Great kids.. both of em!

And this pic I just thought was adorable.... it's Abi and Gabby..... daughter and granddaughter (no, Gabby was not born to Abi.)  

And now, I am off..... it's New Years Eve, and Abi and I are going out to supper to celebrate as mom/daughter. Then we'll come home and play games on our Wii that the family pitched in to buy each other for Christmas! LOL!

Blessings to you all and be safe this holiday!

My day yesterday

What a wonderful day it was!

My husband had asked me for a date a few days ago, and I agreed.

Usually when we say we need a date, it involves just being alone somewhere for awhile, maybe a walk, but nothing spectacular... just the comfort of being together (and alone) for a little while...

So yesterday came, and as soon as I was home from school, DH grabbed me up and took us to the park, where we fed the ducks....

That was enjoyable. They are so cute, with their little tails just scooting back and forth as they swim closer (or away)..... nice conversation and comfortable times.

Then we took a walk through the park.... saw some beautiful colors. My pictures just don't do them justice...

And my personal favorite...

I also saw something I've not seen in years.... milkweed! Who remembers that?

We even found a couple of old abandoned buildings..... had to investigate, of course. DH thinks they were part of the railroad at one time.

Saw a critter or two...

It was a nice hike through nature with my husband. We like to do stuff like this.....

Afterward, he took me to the mall, where I was treated to a personal "beauty time"... LOL!

Then, as we were leaving, I told him we'd better get on home to our daughters, so we could have supper. Mind you, it was fully cooked and in the crockpot, ready to go....

He said, "Nope, I'm not done with you yet."

He pulled into a restaurant parking lot and escorted me inside, called the girls and told them to go ahead with supper, cause he and I were having dinner out. We had steak and shrimp, and it was absolutely scrumptious! I loved every bite and was blessed every second by a man who loves me and tries to make every day just a bit more special than the one before. (and I think he succeeds!)

He told me, "Sometimes I don't care about the money, I just want to be with you."

Well, and sometimes a lady just has to know when to keep her mouth shut and enjoy the gifts from being in a marriage blessed by God, right?

Quick Jot...

Just to let you all know we are ok here on the homefront! Just busy, busy, busy!

7 weeks to go till my graduation, Abi is busy with school, Daddy is  busy with work and preparing the house for the winter winds and snow, and Amelia has even been busy (in her own way, of course! LOL!).

I do need to scoot and get to reading some material for class tomorrow, but wanted to ask the Lords blessings on each of my friends here...

Thank you all for your well wishes and prayers as our family struggles through this hard time!

Love and hugs~

Hair conditioning and curling....

Ahh yes... a few nights go, the girls and I decided to have a hair conditioning and curling fest for ourselves. We had so much laughter and fun, that we'll probably do it again soon! LOL!

Let me see if I can post a couple of pics of the silliness.....

 Here we are with some serious conditioning going on....

and here's me... Mom.... with curlers in her hair and Dad's kerchief tied around, trying to make it look not quite as horrid as it really did. It didn't help. LOL!

We had a great time, which is rather rare at times with 3 females in one house.... and all 3 with very strong independent temperment and minds. So I did have a blast! And the girls hair turned out soft as silk, and mine actually had curls that stayed more than 5 minutes!

Just some fun times here in Hatfield House.....

The Goodness in People...

There is goodness.... yes, there is... so when a little something happens, I like to reflect on it for awhile. Like today, the family and I just returned from WalMart (had to get some ink for my printer, and of course, a few other items I could have lived without...), there was a little baggie stuck in between the screeen door and front door. In it was $2.75 in change, 2 ink pens and my voice recorder that I use for lectures at school....

Where was this found, you ask? In the bookbag that contained the laptop that DH rented for me while waiting for this one to arrive (the little itty bitty). He does sweet things like that, so I don't mess up my homework or go thru internet withdrawals.... LOL!

So anyway, the other laptop was returned, and these people tracked me (us) down to return my property. I just thought it was a sweet and kind gesture that is deserving of recognition, so I shall get a card and maybe a small token and take it to the lady who returned my things that I so carelessly left behind. Thank you!  :)

Another kind gesture was a friend of mine noted on my Facebook page today a simple sentence that touched me... she told me, "You rock Lady!" LOL! Her and I have been friends for so long... distance cannot stop the friendship. We don't call too often or write letters, but small notes here and there keeps us up to date on each others lives and happenings. I love her and she is a special and wonderful part of my life. She's beautiful and kind and has the willpower and patience of Job.... and she says that I rock? Nah... not me.... SHE is the one tht rocks... truly! I love her and thank her for putting up with me and not giving up on me throughout these many years.... Laura is the one that truly ROCKS!!!!  I love you my friend!

The job is going well, learning many new things.. some I wish I didn't have to learn, and others....well.... new job bull, I guess would be the way to put it. I'm being trained by one that does thing differently than another I am trained by..... like I told my DH.... I just have to find my own niche and fall into it, eh? :)

Other than that, things are going well. I need to focus a bit more on my schooling than I have been, and get busy with some serious studying, cause 8 weeks till graduation!

Well, I had better get off to bed. Clinical tomorrow and I have to be awake and motivated for that! LOL!

~~~Blessings~~~

Lots going on round these parts!

Let's see.... family things still in the works include....

finishing up the garden, although we still have a pepper plant and some brussel sprouts left. DH has cleaned up the rest. Hopefully, next year the "late blight" disease wont get our tomatoes..... He has also cleaned up the flowerbeds, and gotten the chimney ready for winter heatin! We got a deer last week, that was processed and has blessed our  (almost empty) freezer. DH did that too....  :)  He is soooo good to us!

Me? I started a new job, left the old one, rather unexpectedly (when it was discovered I was leaving, they let me go, but said I quit...) Huh. Anyway, I've been busy with training and paperwork and such with my new job, so I am learning, however slowly. It's ok, cause I was hired in for a RN position, but am training for it now, so when I graduate, I will already have my job waiting for me!

School is going well. We're almost finished. December graduation! Yea! I'm in the finishing stages of Psych rotation right now, which is fairly interesting......

DD15 is doing well in her school. having some trouble keeping up with quizzes and such. but Dad and I are strict on that. Homework is first... no matter what. She tries to grump out of it every once in awhile, but I check her grades online every AM, so a D or below earns her a kitchen table seat for that evening with that subject in front of her. Needless to say, this method is working pretty good...

DD16 is another story. She isn't in PS... she won't learn, she refuses to even try HS, wants to sleep till 12 and stay up all night. Is quite sure her 12 hour a week job will carry her through in life. Stubborn as a mule, and needless to say, DH and I spend a great deal of time in prayer......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Enough of that! Things here at Hatfield House are normal as always.... money is scarce, but love is plentiful, so we are all good.....

We got a free mini laptop that I am working on now, so we can return the one that DH rented for me until we got the desktop fixed... so now we can return the rented one, and use this one and save money until we can get the big one fixed. That'll save a little bit anyway. Actually, a lot.

Have a few things in mind for Christmas coming.... how about you? What are you doing to prepare for he holidays coming up?

What about some good money saving ideas? Heaven knows we could all use that these days!

~Blessings!~

Saturday, September 12, 2009

I worked last night, so I slept the better part of today. As usual, it was hell, definitely not in part of my clients, but just the usual nastiness and attitudes of the people in charge.
A friend of mine text messaged me part way through and talked to me about her place of employment. Sounds pretty good, so I zipped her off a copy of my resume this AM when I got home, and she's going to give it to her boss. This may be it... I don't know.

I felt good about myself last night on one part though. I didn't cheat. I drank my water, went to the bathroom every 10 minutes or so, but survived and didn't eat any of the "snacky" foods they have sitting around! GOAL MET!

So..... ready for another night?

Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day everyone! And blessings to all!

DH and I both have to work today, so it isn't mych of a "relief" from labor for us, but that's ok. Things are pretty tight round here, and we celebrate every day with each other....  :)

Haven't been here in a bit cause my desktop went down finally, and DH decided that I needed a new laptop, which was nice. SO here I am, but I can't download pics or anything cause I don't want to use all the memory putting pics on here and so on......

Our garden has just about had it, but we're still getting green beans, which is a blessing.... we've been freezing them mostly this year, and not canning, along with our corn. We made some chow chow (about 6 quarts) and dd first attempt at making V8 juice was good, but she didn't strain it, so we ended up with a rather thick tomato base for stews and such! LOL! That's ok though, at least she's learning.  :)

DD 16 made Dad a Dutch Apple pie a few nights ago... boy... was that delish! She's really getting to be an excellent cook!

DD 15 is getting along well in school. She's made a few mistakes, but nothing that a little pep talk from Mom and Dad couldn't handle. I really like the school she's going to this year. They have a website so I can see each day what her grades are, what homework she has, when it was/is due, and her overall grade for each class. She's been needing a bit of help in Algebra (who wouldn't?) so she stays after each day to get some extra help. That is appreciated too....

I just got to thinking last night... we have 3 more grandbabies coming!

Amber is having a little girl very soon. She's due September 19th, but thinks she may go early.  I would just about give my eye teeth to be there for her and with her.... but she has a good husband and another daughter lives close, so I am sure she'll be there too.

Loren is having another baby in January.

And our son Jerry and his lady are having a little girl due January 16th.

Grandma better get to crackin, me thinks! LOL! Especially since a certain little girl is already asking for Grandma to make her a ladybug blanket for her room.....  (hiint hint!)   Do I see a run to JoAnn Fabrics tomorrow after school? LOL!

Well, I had better scoot and get a few more things accomplished around here before I have to go in tonight. Working on laundry right now, and want to get that done today.....

Than I need to at least study a bit before test on Wednesday! LOL!

That's about all the updates for the Hatfield House.... just a plain ol family, raising plain ol children in a plain ol way......

Blessings to you all!

Gotta work tonight....

but had to tell you that Dennis put a handrail in the stairwell going to the basement, and a huge light in the pantry for me.... 

AND... a neighbor gave me a monster zucchini! YIPEE!

Canning time is Monday.. I can see it! Chow Chow, V8 juice and zucchini pickles here I come!

Blessings!

And today is Wednesday...

I had Psych class today from 1-5p. Well, supposed to anyway. I ended up having to leave at 2:30p cause I had to pick up 14y/o from school at 3p. Thank goodness 20 y/o dd took 16 y/o dd to work for me... as I was running behind!

I had put a pot of lentil stew this AM. Added some onion, celery, and a bit of carrot. I think it turned out very well, if I do say so myself.  I used a couple of quarts of chicken broth that I had canned last year... gave the lentils quite a flavor. I have 1 large bowl in the freezer for another day, and 3 small bowls for future lunches for me, either at school or work. Made some homemade biscuits to go with it too. DH loves homemade biscuits... LOL!

We also had our granddaughter all day today. She's such a little joy to be around! She's starting to talk more clearly each day (or does Grandma just understand her better?) and is a good little gal. She is starting to be the typical two year old that DH and I were worried about before... 
Two days in a row now, I have found my Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls shoved under the couch... LOL! But yet when I get them and try to hand them to her, she acts almost like she's in trouble. Time will tell, eh?

Abi is doing quite well in school. She's bringing in good grades and has made lots of friends. So I am thankful for that.

We met Amelia's "boyfriend" last night. Gave him 3 kinds of he** and back for sneaking out with our daughter. He apologized and after he got the Dad lecture, he got mine. He did then ask permission to date Amelia, under our terms, and we agreed. We figure, any boy with enough guts to stand up to DH and admit to sneaking his daughter out all night, then apologize, AND even be lectured on top of that... deserves a small chance to make things right...
And besides, he seems like a nice boy. He'd better be, cause he's under scrutiny now!

Well, I think I am gonna head off here and make a cake this evening. Family deserves some kind of a goodie.....

~Blessings~
From our home to yours

Monday evening

Tomorrow I start back to school for my last semester. *sigh* I'm gonna miss being at home. A 3 week break sure does the soul good!

Sunday

Not too much going on around here today...
I woke up at 3:30 (worked last night) and got almost right into supper. DH asked for fried chicken, so I fried up a batch of chicken, and we had some of our canned beans, a few ears of corn, and some homemade bread.
Pretty good, if I do say so myself!  :)
Now, I am getting 5 more quarts of broth canned, and DH and Meli are watching a cowboy show on TV. I'm also working on laundry (about 2 loads to go).

Another nurse at work had brought in some corn last night on 2nd shift and offered it to anyone that wanted it. No one on 2nd took any, and a gal from 3rd took 2 bags, so I waited till 4am to see if anyone else wanted some, they all said no, so I bought home 3 bags of corn! Free! (That's my fav price!)

DH had it shucked and in freezer bags before I woke up, so I didn't have a chance to do what I wanted to with it (but that's ok). I wanted to take it off the cob and can it.

Dh and the girls pulled up our tomato plants and disposed of them today. They were able to save a little bit of the tomatoes that weren't diseased, but not many.  A few is better than none though, and the Lord has blessed us with so much more anyway.... we'll be ok.

Then we decided to take down the pool for the year... LOL! Now, when I get the video of DH getting into that freezing water to unplug that pool..... well, let's just say, I was giggling pretty darn hard at that one! :)

I suppose it's time to get Abi ready for bed (she has school bright and early), and get myself situated for the evening (although I am no where near tired since DH allowed me to sleep in so late! LOL!)
And my time is almost up for my chicken broth I have processing....

So I am going to run for now, and may post in the AM.

Thanks for stopping by to visit...

G'nite!

~Blessings~

1 week at school

and Abi is doing much better. She finally came home today the bubbly, giggling and happy little girl that I raised. The children are finally talking to her and she has friends....
I am so happy!

Last night, I wrote up a CNA for sitting on the nurses desk and text messaging on her phone. So we'll see where that goes today, eh? I work with her for the first 4 hours of my shift tonight, so it'll either be a good one or not!

DH made supper..... so I had better scedaddle off here and eat, then get ready for work!

Talk to ya'll later!

More corn!

DH was given 2 doz ears of sweet delicious corn last night at work! Yea!

Canning and my new pantry!

DH said he'd do it... a long time ago... this summer, our grandson went back to live with his Mom, so DH finally did it! He took our grandboy's old room and built me a pantry!
I'm so excited... didn't think it could... or would ..... be done!
But I started moving in today......
I still have more to do, but here's the gist of it....

I have these two shelves on the right side of the room, and this one...
There's another shelf to the right of this one, but it's being hidden by my treadmill right now. The rest of the room has to be cleaned out before I can move things around much more....

Then, against the far wall, there is going to be another shelving system for more canning jars and such. (We just didn't get it out yet.)

So, yesterday, I was busy canning, and put up 19 quarts of turkey, vegetable soup for chilly winter evenings, and today, I did 3 quarts and 8 pints of salsa, and 3 quarts of pineapple topping. I ran out of seals, else I'd be doing more chicken broth. I have wide mouth jars, and only small mouth seals.... *sigh* it's too hot to do anymore today anyway....

Our tomatoes caught that Late Blight fungal disease this year. So sad.... I'm going to pull up my plants and use what I can of the green tomatoes. Seems all of them around us caught it too! We had no clue what it was until we saw an article in the paper... and sure enough, that's exactly what our little beauties looked like.... I won't use the tomatoes with the disease on it. DH told me I could cut it out, and I probably could... but I'd rather not take that chance, ya know?

Here's my salsa I did today though. See that bright red pepper in there? That's DH's special jar! No... not cause I'm mad at him, he likes that kind of stuff! That nose waterin', eye burnin' , can't taste anything cause your tongue is gone stuff....

So, how's your winter planning coming along?

Teenagers....

Why is it a wonderful little girl can be so sweet and innocent and full of life and joy during a vacation to the country, and the same night we get home turns into a beast from he**, sneaking out and hanging (or whatever else) with her "boyfriend" (whom her parents have not even met!) all night?
She came walking down the road at 6:30am, saw her Dad sitting on the porch, and knew then it was over. And it was.......

Till now.

15 August 2009

We just got back from Kentucky last night after a wonderful visit with family. Sad to leave, but, oh so good to be home! :)
I think we hiked all over the mountains there! We went to Cumberland Falls, The Pinnacle, Chained Rock and a few other spots we saw along the way.  We'd usually leave about 10-11 am and not get home till about 7-8 pm.
The girls had a blast with their cousins, and Dennis and I shared a dream of buying the cabin up the holler a bit from Uncle Eb and Aunt Sandy's.
Beautiful. Simply beautiful.

Our view every morning was.... Looking left down the driveway....

Looking right down the driveway....

After we figured out what to do, we'd load up and go find a park or something to tromp through. Only to see more Kentucky beauty everywhere we looked...


We had to be careful for little buggers like this guy..... he was hiding under a rock, and the kids just hiked right over top of him... didn't even realize he was there! God was with us that day though.....


We always had fun.... and the children did too.  They all stood half in Kentucky and half in Virginia for this pic! I love it!

At the end of each day, Den and I would dream of owning this little property.... and it's for sale too! There's a small cabin behind the barn a bit.....



All in all..... we had a wonderful time. A wonderful time of family, fun and praising God.....

He has made this a true slice of heaven on earth. Kentucky.

Wednesday's Happenings

Ahh.. today... the good ol middle of the week day of Wednesday.

We had our granddaughter again today. She's a quiet little bugger, doesn't say much at all, and just kind of wanders around after you (whomever she chooses at the moment). Usually doesn't play and is content to sit on a lap most of the time. Dh and I are concerned, but if we say anything, we'll be accused of interfering again and probably won't get to see her till whenever again, so we'll just keep our mouths shut and pray. She plays and talks like a just turned 2 year old, but she's just sooo quiet! I guess I just remember our 2 year olds... they were rambuncious and ornery and talking up a storm.... Guess all children are different though, aren't they?

Highlight of the day... we sold our old dining room set for $400. We're going to deliver it for them tomorrow. It's an elderly couple that has family in frequently.  After we deliver that, we have to take Abi to the school and get her registered for the upcoming year. I asked DH if I could use some of that money to get Abi some new school clothes, and he said sure... so we're probably going ot shop while we're in Kentucky.

I got some sewing done today. 2 pair of boxers for my fella, and a little dress for a granddaughter. And to think, I went into my sewing room to make some fabric market bags! LOL!

This evening, after dh went to work, we ordered pizza and didn't do too much of anything else, so I can't say as I've accomplished a whole lot, but what I did accomplish felt good to me.

Life has been good to me so far......

Being at Home....

What a wonderful vacation this is turning out to be!
I worked on laundry all day yesterday, washing and getting it hung out to dry, but my last load of jeans and a quilt were caught in a rainstorm this morning.... that's ok, I guess...

I also worked on the basement last night, moving things around and took 3 boxes and a bag to Goodwill. I plan on taking another load today. I'm in a clearing out frenzy around here! LOL! We have a room downstairs that we want to use as our food pantry, where I will have shelves stocked full of my canned goods that we have gotten from our gardens! As it is right now, we have to go to 3 different rooms to find what we need, and it just isn't productive... not at all. But we have a plan....

I am also working on oldest dd school schedule for the upcoming year. I have all of her books and things she will need, just need to get the schedule laid out, so on the days I am not here, DH can handle it, and keep her on task.

Oh! That reminds me! Today I have to call the school that we are sending younger dd to and get her registered.

I'd better get busy.... cause tasks do not accomplish themselves, do they?

~Blessings!~

True Diversity in America

Where else can you be at a store, and look up and see...
A Mexican Store right across the street..... (I've shopped there... they have some good stuff!)

and then, right next to your car, is a reminder of America the Beautiful....

4H Fair

DH took me on a date yesterday. It was nice... we both love the same things, and enjoy walking around looking at things.  The rides are a bit too much for me these days, and the food... oh yes! The fair food! (That's the very best part!) He bought me an elephant ear, then we each had a huge burrito (enough for an entire day), and then we shared a waffle cone of raspberry chunk ice cream! Delish! I think my blood sugar may have skyrocketed, but once in a while isn't going to hurt!
We walked around and gandered at everything, but our favorites were the animals, of course.
Wish I would have thought enough to get pics of some of the farm veggies that were grown! But I didn't... sorry....

Here's a beautiful horse that a fellow was getting warmed up....

And another.... we overheard this little girls Mom talking to her about the competition, and she was so scared, she was crying... poor little thing.... I hope she placed.

Here's a beautiful mare that was tired, so she was laying down....

Then we went to see the bulls and cows..... awesome! Here's a couple...

Then we hit the poultry barn.... that was fun! Seeing all the different types of birds that God put on this earth... my goodness! :)




I loved this guy... couldn't get him to look up too much, so he's a little blurry....
Off to the rabbits next! Most were adorable little fluffy fellas, who allowed you to touch their fur and pet them.... then there was this one, that was soo big I didn't know what to think! I'd say probably about 16-20 pounds!


and of course... what date would be complete without a picture of MY kind of transportation?

John Deere all the way!
(Now all I need is a farm to work on, eh?)

Good times... and a perfect date with my best friend....

Thanks Honey, I had a blast!  :)

Sunday August 2, 2009

Wanted to share some pics with you today..... nothing exciting, but things I am happy for in my life.
My first garden produce....


My front yard flowerbed....


My little pup dog, Cordell.....


My granddaughter Gabriel, and being given the opportunity to be grandparents....
(some of the others live too far away to see almost every day, but we are definitely Grandma and Grandpa with them too!)


and lovely simplicity in our lives.....



Hope you enjoyed a sneak peek into our (mostly) quiet little happy life.....
Maybe I can share more tomorrow!

~Blessings!~