Project 365 - 3-9 April

Well, another week has come & gone.  Did a lot better on taking pictures this week.  Weather was weird, some days very warm & nice, then we drop to freezing temps & rain.  Well, let's see what caught my eye or came into my life this week

Sunday 3 April

On Saturday, I went to the city to return my dead fish (still under warranty) & add some more to the tank.  Three of the newer fish were bigger than than the first batch we got.  They caught Fuzzy's eye & she was determined to have some Sushi for breakfast. She was very gentle when she pawed at the tank.

 New fish #1 - called him Blackie, he is a type of guppy

New fish #2 - Domino, another guppy

New fish #3 - Pointdexter.  This one is funny.  He has gotten use to the cats watching and not afraid of them.  In fact it the cats walk by the tank & he spies them, he starts swimming in loops in the front part of the tank so the cats will try & get him.  When the cats do, he swims very fast to the top of the tank, like is is almost going to jump out.  Very funny to watch.

Monday 4 April

It took Motor till Monday to discover the new fish.  He was more in a stealth mood but later he would stand up in the front of the tank like fuzzy.  He also pawed at the tank but it was more of a pounce then slap.

Tuesday 5 April

Election Day in Missouri.  I work the election polls from 5:00am - 9:00pm.  I was head supervising election judge - first time working at the position.  These are the three other ladies that worked with me & my husband checking in to vote.  He was the first voter at 6:04am.  It was a long day, but fun.  Not much on the ballot, so it was also a slow day & I got a lot of cross stitching done.

Wednesday 6 April

First off - a Happy Birthday to my nephew Jesse David Marshall.  He turns 24yrs old today.  This is one of my favorite pictures of Jesse when he was 4yrs old.

I went back to New Hampton Christian School, where I taught until Dec 2011 (had to quit because of my surgery & 3 - 6 month recovery).  I needed to take class pictures & one of the whole student body.  The ones I took in the fall were out dated since three new students join after Christmas.

This is the elementary class - my class that I taught.  Two of the new students are in this group.

Jr./Sr. High class - Miss Jamie's Room

Jr./Sr. High Pastor Paul's Room

2010 - 2011 Student Body of New Hampton Christian School

Thursday 7 April

Not the best picture.  I took it through my picture window while it was lightly raining.  The male American Goldfinches are starting to loose their winter brownish, yellow feather & have their beautiful, bright, yellow feathers shine through as you can see on this male.  Now I will be able to tell the females & males apart.

Friday 8 April

Our second day of cold, wet, rain weather so I was in the mood to make soup.  Today 2x4 (two by four) Soup.  This is a slightly spicy, Mexican style, thick soup.  Best eaten with tortilla chips.  I like using the scoops & when I was shopping yesterday I found these new (at least to me) Tostitos Multi grain Scoops!!!  The recipe to this is on my new recipe blog called "Good Cooking" & the link is on the right side of my blog page.  I also put the Bran muffin recipe (I posted back in Feb.) on this link.

Saturday 9 April

I decided today to start taking pictures of the little town I live in each day until I'm done.  I do mean little - population 382 according to 2010 census.  So I'm standing in my front yard, we have a corner house & when you look southwest you see the Gilman City Rural Volunteer Fire Department.  This is also where everyone came to vote on Tuesday.  If you look behind the fire station to the right of the picture you will see a pavilion (will take better picture tomorrow).  This is also the main city park.  I think this fire station is about 15 years old or younger.  When we moved here in December of 1991 this was just an empty, grassy lot.

Well, that is my week.  Hope all of you had a great one.  God Bless.

Project 365 - 27 March - 2 April

Not a good week for me to take pictures.  When I had a great shot, didn't have my camera & of course when I had my camera no picture to be taken.  But, I did spend a lot of time this week doing digital scrap booking & editing some pictures I took for the Christian school I use to work at.  I put together a digital yearbook & regular one, so that is taking up most of my time the next couple of weeks.  Also saw the doc & so far no knee surgery.  Have spent 6 weeks trying to stay off it as much as possible, now I get to spend the next 6 weeks having physical therapy twice a week.  Hoping that will help my meniscus to heal & I won't have to have surgery.  Now, back to this week.

Sunday 27 March

Every eight weeks I have the privilege to serve in the 2's & 3's children's church for two weeks in a row, then off for another eight weeks etc.  This Sunday was my turn.  We had 5 this Sunday, but could get up to 8 if they all come.  These are the cuties that bless my time with them playing with play dough.

Monday 28 March

Does this bring back memories for any Avon Ladies???  My parents divorced when I was 16.  Mom went back to Dad when I was 18 (I was in college & on my own) for a year, but things didn't work out & she left with what ever she could pack in two suitcases.  Well, I guess Dad has decided to go through the stuff she left behind.  I had a surprise package in the mail with these 6 Avon collectible perfume holders in it.  The perfume, that is somewhere between 25 to 30 years old, was still in the bottles.  They didn't smell too great either.  I also got a package Tuesday with another 6, but most of them had broke, so no picture.  Luckily he had wrapped each one in paper towels & put each on in a separate plastic bag.

Tuesday 29 March

Here is a picture I took back in September for school pictures, it was in color.  Then today I edited it on picnik for the school digital yearbook.  This is for a small Christian school on it's5th year & has 21 students.  For the slide show I have a slide with the student's school picture & followed by a fun picture to show the student body.

Wednesday 30 March

Okay, nothing to take a picture of & it is almost the end of the day.  I walk into the bathroom & here are two of our cat sleeping on the bath towel my son left down.  Thought they looked cute & took a picture just to have one for the day.

Thursday 31 March

Okay, back to editing pictures on picnik for the school slide show.  This is 1st Quarter Honor Roll field trip.  In the A.C.E. christian school system, field trips are a privilege not a right.  The kids have to earn the privilege to go on them.  At New Hampton Christian School (where I use to work) all day field trips were saved for Honor Roll students.  These six made 1st quarter Honor Roll & were able to go the Kansas City American Royal for a youth Rodeo.  It was a lot of fun.

Friday 1 April

A collage I made for the digital yearbook.  In October the little town of New Hampton (315 population) has Frontier Days.  There is a parade & for the past three years the NH Christian School has enter a float & won 1st place.  This is this year's float.  Theme - Wizard of Oz with a sign that ask - Which road are you on????.

Saturday 2 April

This is the slide I made for the digital yearbook to introduce the elementary class.  I love digital scrap booking.  This was not made on picnik but with Microsoft Digital Image Suite and some digital scrap booking set I bought from A Cherry On Top Scrap booking website.

This is the Jr./Sr. high room #1 intro slide....

... and Jr./Sr. high room #2 intro slide.

That is it for this week.  Hope to take more pictures this coming week.

365 Pictures 13-26 March

Okay, this has been a crazy two weeks.  I miss last week's post, so I'm posting two weeks worth.  Our oldest son came home from college about 3 weeks ago, finishing up his last two classes on line at home.  In the fall he will be transferring to a new college.  This week our youngest son came home from college for spring break, so both boys home & my no kid schedule is set aside, but I love having them home so worth it all.  Other news, saw my neurologist on Tuesday, had my last MRI of my head/brain.  The tonsils of my brain that had been squashed flat & scared are now round & plump, 3 months ahead of schedule!!!!  PTL!!!!  I'm released from my neuro doc & can go back to doing anything I want!?..... well what my bum knee will let me.  I see the knee doc this coming Monday & hope to get that surgery schedule, done & recovered so life will get back to normal.  Okay enough talking, time for pictures

Sunday 13 March

Well, I didn't see anything to take a picture of so I looked at our deer cam.  I liked this one because you can see the doe on the right licking the tree, trying to find some loose bark to eat.  The other one is sniffing on the salt block we put out for them to lick.

Monday 14 March

The fish tank is set up and has been for a week.  It is finally ready for fish!!!

Tuesday 15 March

And the fish has ARRIVE!!!!  YEAH!!!!  I haven't had an aquarium since I was 15, so I was thrilled.  We had 8 new fish.  Plan to get more in a couple of weeks.

Wednesday 16 March

Sitting watching TV; reached up to scratch Motor & my hand became his pillow.  You can't really see it but his other front paw is holding my hand so he can sleep on it.

Thursday 17 March

We put our hay fields on our farm into the ten-year program.  We have only about 24 cows which we split with my father-in-law & his farm provides plenty of hay, so this crop would go to waste.  Instead we don't farm it, maintain it to certain government regulations & the government pays us.  The reason for this is - the government puts farms in this program for emergency use.  It gives the ground a rest & if there is a food emergency, these farms will be released from the program to be farmed to help with food for our country.  Also it keeps old farm ground not being used from eroding & provides a wildlife refuge.  Our farm had to have the old crops, hay, burned off before it could be seeded back to native grasses.  This is my husband beginning to burn one of our old hay fields.

Friday 18 March

We went to open house at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary where my oldest son will be going to college in the fall.  The school is in Kansas City, Missouri.  They have 1,000 of geese come to the college because of the two huge ponds on the campus.  I took these pictures sitting in my car in one of the parking lots.  The geese were about 5 feet away or less.

Saturday 19 March

We had Squirrel TV at the bird feeder today.

Oh No!!!  I've been caught!  or Whatcha looking at?????

Sunday 20 March

Our youngest son, Josh, came home from college & dumped his dirty laundry in front of the washing machine.  Motor was soooooo happy to have his brother home & his smelly clothes to sleep on.  Motor & Josh are more like brothers than human & cat.  They play tag with each other through the house & when Josh was little Motor would play with Legos with Josh, both digging in the Lego box to find the right brick.  Motor will be a very happy cat this week.

Monday 21 March

Another day I didn't get a picture taken, so I relied on the good ole deer cam.  This is a night shot, that is why it is black & white.  5 does feeding at the corn feeder.

Tuesday 22 March

We had a wicked storm come in & bring hail.  This is a piece of hail on our front porch.  That is my husband's finger point at the tail on the hail.

Wednesday 23 March

Awana is almost over.  This is Benton (the taller one) & Nicholas Crabtree.  They are TWIN brothers.  They are full of energy every Wednesday night & make the Sparks very interesting.

Thursday 24 March

A little American Gold Finch waiting its turn at the bird feeder.  You can see the buds on the branches.  Looks like Spring in very near........ but wait

Friday 25 March

This is the next day, 6 inches of snow overnight!!!!  All but an inch of it melted through the early morning.  Two American Gold Finches waiting for their turn at the feeder & wondering "Where in the world is SPRING????"

Saturday 26 March

Grouchy showing Josh where she hid her mouse under the stove.  Grouchy likes to use the stove as a soccer goal & about every three days we have to fish out her toy mice from under it using a flashlight & yard stick

Today was a good picture day with the cats.  We went to our church's Awana Derby, home for lunch & then nap time.  Even the cats took a nap.  Motor found a nice warm lap top to take his nap on.

Well, that is my past two weeks.  Look forward to seeing every one's pictures.

365 pictures 6 - 12 March

WOW!!!!  Where did this week go????  I didn't get every day, just a crazy week but here we go.

Sunday 6 March

Nice relaxing day.  Church in the morning, nap in the afternoon, kitties playing, church in the evening.  Grouchy playing with her favorite mouse.

Monday 7 March

Going back in time 21 years.  This is my nephew Elisha James, two days old.  He turned 21 today.  I was 4 months pregnant with my first son, so getting some "Mommy" practice in.

My son Wood is home from college.  He brought home his fish tank.  Wood started to remove the books from this bookcase so we could move it & put the fish tank here.  Grouchy had to help by being a live dust rag.  She had a blast rolling all over the empty shelves.  Thought she found a new play area.

Tuesday 8 March

A week ago, my husband & I went to a couple night at church & won a gift card to Red Lobster.  Tuesday is my husband's day off, so we drove to the city, St. Joseph, (an 1hr & 15 min. south west of us) did some shopping & then went out to eat at Red Lobster.  It was a great time & a wonderful date night.

Wednesday 9 March

 No picture, can't believe I forgot to take one.

Thursday 10 March

Put up the Woodpecker suet block & this cute little Downy (I think that is its name) pecker came immediately.

Friday 11 March

I had the privilege to go to a women retreat put on by our county Baptist association.  At 9:30pm we got into our pj's had a slumber party & played some games.  The them to the games was things we count, like we count grey/white hairs & worry about having them.  God knows the number of hairs on our head even the white/grey one we pluck out.  The object of the game was we were given a small box of spaghetti & we had to see which team to stuff all the spaghetti in the pony tail of a team mate head first.  My team came in third.

Saturday 12 March

The retreat was Friday evening to Saturday afternoon.  Started the morning with breakfast & praise time.  Angie Cox led us in praise.  She is a wonderful musician & writes some of the most beautiful praise songs.

That is my week.  Hope all of you had a great one!!

365 pictures 27 Feb - 5 March

Wow, another week gone & a new month has started.  Time is going by way to fast.  I was a good girl this week, stayed home & off my knee as much as possible.  Looking for pictures was a little challenging, but got it done.

Sunday 27 Feb.

This morning I made a batch of buttermilk bran muffins.  During the week, my husband & I eat these for breakfast because it is easy for him to take on the go & they taste great.  The recipe makes 2 1/2 dozen.  The recipe calls for adding nuts & dried fruit which is optional.  I like to add a dried fruit mixture of apples, cranberries, blueberries & cherries, I found at Cost co.  This batch also has pecans in it because that was the nuts I had in my freezer. 

Monday 28 Feb.

First of course this picture was not taken today, but wanted to post it to say "Happy Birthday to my brother Robert"  This was taken in 1969, Rob was 5 & I was 1.  Of course being Navy brats we were dress in Navy outfits.

Since the weather was nasty & I couldn't get outside plus didn't find anything interesting in the house to take a picture of; I decided to take a picture from our deer cam on our farm.  We have two set up, one at the corn feeder we set up to help feed the deer in winter & keep them coming back to our farm & a second one at a salt block.  Two pictures before this the deer were eating calmly then something spooked them & the took off.

Tuesday 1 March

My oldest son was home for a visit.  We gave him a new compound bow for Christmas because he out grew his old one.  He didn't have a chance to put it together or sight it in during Christmas.  Since the weather was nice today, he & my hubby worked on the bow, & sighted it in.

Wednesday 2 March

Every morning I get to go to therapy for my knee, which right now is being hooked up to a machine that send electric current to my muscle, while I sit there & do nothing.  This is my daily reading time which I'm enjoying.  I finished the last book I posted here & started this one today.  Luci Swindoll is Chuck Swindoll's sister & one of my favorite speakers at Women of Faith conference.  Her books are great too.

Thursday 3 March

We have three indoor cats who have cat toys & fake mice to play with.  Grouchy plays with them the most & get a little carried away to where the mice get hit under the stove in the kitchen, under the couch in the living room, buried in the coat closet, etc.  So when my husband sees our cat laying belly up looking under the stove, couch & other places for a couple of days in a row, this is a hint to please get my mice for me.  My husband went on a mouse hunt tonight & found all the mice & tiger toy for the cats.  Then lined them up on the shoe towel by the coat closet for the cats to find.

 AD (short for attention deficit, which she has a problem with doesn't think she gets enough attention) was the first to see what Daddy did & laid on the towel to guard them.  Her two favorite are the yellow ones because they rattle when she wacks them around the house.

Her sister Grouchy also realized what Daddy did, chased sissy away & took over controlling the mice.  If you notice she has separated her favorite mouse from the rest (laying in front of her).  By morning all of the mice were scattered through the house.

Friday 4 March

In the evening if we have nothing else to do, my husband & I will play Lego Star Wars on the Wii together.  Yes, this is MY game my boys gave me one year either for my birthday or Christmas.  This is a fun game, that we use to play with our boys.  We almost have this game beat then we will probably move on the Lego Batman, another one of my games.  I hoping to get the new Lego Star Wars Clone Wars Wii game for Mother's day.

Saturday 5 March

I ventured out with my husband & Fred (my crutch I have to use) to the Christian school (in a small town called New Hampton population 291) I use to teach at.  I left some things in my room & needed to bring them home.  Then we went to Bethany (where we do everything, population 3, 292) to do some shopping & ate lunch at Wendy's.  First time I have gone shopping in 4 weeks since messing up my knee.  Made the circle by coming home & as got close to turn into our town, we saw hundreds of geese landing on Stephen's 3rd cousin's farm.

Shot from where we were sitting in our car on the highway

Zoom shot of one of the many flocks of snow & Canadian geese landing.  A sign that spring is getting closer, yeah!!