A new favorite thing

by Sister Two:

My goal this summer is to finally get into shape.

I have devised a plan.

One: I have given up my favorite soft drink

It's been tough.

But I haven't fallen off the wagon for the past week.

No more 240 empty calories.

Which equals 20 minutes on the treadmill.

In case you were wondering.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two: I will exercise faithfully.

I have help.

Do you own a Wii ?

Two great games that will assist in your desire to become healthy again.

The first game is:

EA Active

http://www.easportsactive.com/home.action

I love this program.

If you use it everyday faithfully.

You will loose inches and get yourself into shape once again.

I have just began my 30 day Challenge, so I haven't seen the results yet.

But I know I will.

It's has a personal trainer that takes you step by step.

Exercise by stinking exercise.

It works you and you will sweat.

The next program is:

I picked this game as a companion to the EA Active.

I like this for it's balance games and the hula hoop challenge.

I have horrible balance and hope to improve as I get in shape once again.

I also picked this program so I could learn the basics of Yoga.

As I have begun my journey with MS,

I learned that Yoga is supposed to help with many of my

symptoms. So I'm now trying to learn the basics of Yoga.

Before I get brave and attend an actual Yoga class.

Even when I was 18 years old and 125 pounds, I have NEVER

been able to touch my toes. So you can be glad you are not

a mouse in the corner of my living room. Otherwise

you would find yourself laughing uncontrollably at my attempts at yoga.

But I'm trying.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And if all fails in my attempt to get back into shape.

I do have a back up plan:

Meet Tucker.

Tucker is our new puppy.

He is part Border Collie, Blue Heeler, Lab, and Husky.

Puppies need a good long walks every day.

Along with daughter # 2 's 4-H sheep,

Roly Poly and Olie.

Named this because they lived to tell about their

trip home from the county fairgrounds.

You can find their adventure here:

http://trio-of-sisters.blogspot.com/2009/05/litttle-bo-beep.html

Disclaimer:

Okay these are actually last year's sheep.

I haven't snapped a picture of this year's lambs yet.

Okay we haven't actually taken any long walks yet.

But we will.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So if you are debating between a new puppy and EA Active for you Wii.

Go with the game.

Your toes will thank you.

You dirty underwear laying in laundry basket will thank you.

Anything left forgotten on the floor or within easy reach will thank you.

If only he didn't chew on everything.

A Western Find

We are knee deep in calving season or is it waist deep.

The cowboys (not Sister Two) have been busy the last few weeks with calving duties.

(Okay we don't have a single long horn on our ranch, but I will tell you more about this picture later)

So it's not uncommon for us to be at the calving barn hanging out, and helping when necessary.

We are fortunate that the calving barn is outfitted

with an office, so you can kick back

and relax for a minute or make a snack.

During one of those "minutes" while I was relaxing,

I was looking through an old issue of the American Cowboy magazine that someone had left behind.

It was the first time I had ever looked at this particular magazine. It has some amazing pictures of different areas of our fine country and some good recipes.

At the back of the magazine there was ads for different things you can purchase.

One of the ads was for the Brighton Feed and Saddlery.

http://www.brightonsaddlery.com/

As most of you know, I don't ride horses.So shopping for a saddle probably isn't what excited me.

This is what I spied that I thought was so neat

cups,

plates,

and this super cool serving tray (love this).

What is this you ask? It is called Ranch Life Stoneware, and it depicts the Old American West.

As my other sisters will tell you, sister two does not need any new dishes. Because of a love affair with fiesta ware.

But I was thinking, that one of the projects available

for 4-H is table setting. I think this is would make great tableware for such a project.

Now I only have to convince one of my two daughters to take this project, and then direct them to

my cook book collection (my other love affair)

to plan the acopymaning menu.

Of course that would be "Beef ..... it's what for dinner".

If only they could stay 9 years old....

We were driving to town last night for yet another meeting,

and daughter #2 was telling us about her day at school.

This is how the conversation went:

"It was so gross in music class today,"

"What was so gross ?"

"We had to dance in music class."

"Why is dancing so gross?"

"It was slow dancing mom..... with boys!"

"Slow dancing with boys.... slow dancing?"

" Yeah square dancing"

"Oh, square dancing. I don't remember that being a slow dance."

"But I had to hold a fourth graders hand!

Yuck boy cooties!"

Well Dani you just keep that attitude,

and life will be good (for mom and dad).

Too darn funny and we had a good laugh.

Life is like a Cake Walk

We held our annual county 4-H Fun Day this past week end.

Once again all the kids had a great time.

In years past I helped in the food booth,

so I didn't make it around to the penny carnival booths.

But this year I helped run the booths.

You could shoot baskets, play plinko,

have a pillow fight, or have your face painted.

Just to name a few of the booths.

The 4-H club my family is involved with ran the

cake walk.

I never realized before that people really want to win

a cake. Some really want to win more than one cake.

It was a busy booth all night long.

As was the duck pond.....

and putt-putt golf.

Our club also ran the local jail....

but I think the deputies must have been

trained in Mayberry.

As the door is wide open,

and they are easily distracted.

Of course the kids didn't seem to care.

They were having a grand time.

This great cake was won by daughter #1.
I think the 4-Her who made this cake,
could guest star on
the Food Networks Ace of Cakes show.
It was really neat!

(and must have tasted good also as it was missing a few pieces last night).

Today's Gift

Every year on President's Day, our local service
unit hosts a mid-winter conference.

Vicki, the Young Thing and I all wanted
to go to "Motivating the Unmotivated."

(So what if it was a little self-help I was looking for?!)

Instead, we got to attend 
"Instructional Strategies to Differentiate for Students".

I wasn't really excited about the topic
because I really wanted to be in the other session. 
 

In fact, I was kind of pissy.


After all, Vicki and I went to a three 
day conference on this very topic last summer
and I wanted something new and exciting. 

We differentiate on a daily basis.

We have to in order to survive in our classroom.

 

 

What can I say?

Lunch was good.

I got to visit with Linda who lived next door to us as we were growing up.
I got to visit with one of my college professors.
I got to see my 7th grade English teacher.

But the best part was getting out at 3:00.

That was like an unexpected gift ....
especially since the weather was so nice.

I drove home all excited about the prospect of being home in the afternoon with daylight left.  Sure, the week-ends have daylight, but it just isn't the same.

I never get home before o'dark thirty so this was truly a gift.

This is usually what it looks like as I drive around the lake.

 

While it is beautiful, it is too dark to go hiking by the time

I actually get home and change clothes.

So today I decided to take advantage and take
the Doodles and the big dogs for a run.

Let me clarify that .... they run, I trudge along.

Naturally, I had exhausted my batteries taking pictures of the New Arrival so I opted to forego taking my camera along.  It figures that the Doodles scared up two pheasants and a pair of deer.  Of course if I had had my camera with me, this is probably all I would've gotten anyway:

(photo courtesy of istock royalty free pics)

Of course, without the lush green background.

Instead my background would have looked more like this:

Actually, it would have been nice to add that image
to my collection of "animal butt" photos.

Why, you ask, do I collect animal butt photos?
It's simple really.  I have this theory that any kid's book that has the word
"butt", "poop", or "fart" in it becomes an instant best seller.
Just ask Dav Pilkey.

I have considered writing a children's book about animals butts
and have collected butt photos for about six years.

I figure if it has the picture as well as the word butt,
it's bound to be a hit.



But I digress.

About the time a Great Blue Heron swooped up in front of me
and landed on a branch not more than twenty feet away,
I was really cursing myself for not bringing my camera along.

I was cursing myself for not being bright enough
to charge my battery while I was suffering through the in-service.

I was cursing myself for not at least bringing my old camera.

Then I quit cursing myself and went back
and fetched my trusty old camera that takes regular alkaline batteries.

Of course I didn't have any of those type of batteries either,
so I did the only logical thing.

I stole them from Mardell's mouse on her computer.
Please don't tell her.

This is the time of year when I am desperate for a sign of spring
so I set off with the hopes of finding some small inkling of the change in seasons.

 

No bats in my bat houses yet, so it can't be spring.

All I saw there was trim that still needs to be painted.

No blooming sunflowers in my garden, so it can't be spring.

All I saw was a drooping head waiting patiently for the chickadees to discover it.

My destination was Little Lake Alice, so I set off on our well-worn path.

One might think I did lots of hiking because of this trail ...

but one would be wrong for thinking this. 

The trail is courtesy of my dogs.

Chip of course thinks he owns the entire pasture.

I hadn't gone far before I discovered that 

Benny wanted to be a big dog too.

Of course, he is very serious when he picks up a scent.

We don't have God complexes at our house.

Rather, we have Dog complexes.

"Hey, wait for ME!" Zeda, our one-eyed cat exclaims,

"I'm a big dog, too!"

Determined to find some sign of impending spring, we continued on.

No fresh cat-tails in our cat-tail marsh, so it can't be spring.

All I saw were old, exploded ones.

No buds on the tree branches yet, so it can't be spring.

All I saw were toppled over trees that need to be chopped up this summer,

 

and pesky tumbleweeds that need to be eradicated.

No sticky sweet milkweed pods, so it can't be spring.

All I saw were dried up pods, gently rustling in the breeze.

Wait, there's a definite sign of spring!

 

Flocks of Canadian Geese and Canadian Snow Geese on the lake.

For the past week or so, we have had hundreds of geese in the fields and on the lake.

That's a sure sign that spring is just around the corner!

Of course, my dogs (the little blobs marked with blue arrows)

see something entirely different ....

 ... a walking buffet.

Life is good when you have waterfowl to bark at and chase.

Ahh, mud.

Definitely a sign that the world is
thawing and spring is just around the corner.

Unfortunately, the sun began to set and I had to turn back.

 

But I was grateful for this hike and can hardly wait to document the actual arrival of my favorite season.

Mt. Laundry

I had a brainstorm today, but since I never, ever 

want to run a business again someone else is welcome to my idea.

It came about because of Mt. Laundry.

This is one pile of 112.  Really.

I'm trying to turn Mt. Laundry into neatly folded piles.

Disregard the bottom left corner ---- 

that's my latest project for a certain niece's birthday.

I hate doing laundry.

For that matter, I hate housework in any shape or form.

On Fridays, we can wear jeans to school.

Naturally I didn't have any clean ones, so I did the only logical thing there was to do.  I drove to the Evil Empire and bought a pair.  Just as I usually buy underwear and socks before I leave town for any sort of trip.

That got me to thinking.  Wouldn't it be cool if there was a membership store that rented clothes?  A person could pay a yearly membership fee and then go in once a week and pick out the clothes you want to wear for the week.  They'd outfit you with a hamper to put them in at the end of each day and then you take them back and they launder and press them and you pick out the next week's clothes. 

I'd be more than willing to pay $10 for a day's rental for an outfit. You would have a multitude of outfits to choose from, so you wouldn't have to wear the same things over and over.  If you had a big meeting, you could pick out something classy without having to lay out a big wad of money for something you'll only wear a few times.

They could charge a deposit for damages. Let me know who decides to do it and I'll be your charter member!

Then I'd only have the underwear piles to deal with and that wouldn't be so bad.

Then I could spend more time quilting.

Oh wait, that hasn't stopped me.

Here's my latest mariner's compass block.

 

I like the black background.  Mardell found me a black and purple batik that I'm going to use for this purpose.  It should be here this week.  I've been pleased with how these practice blocks have gone, so I've decided to go ahead and put a quilt together. 

Now I just have to figure out what to do with it.  

Pink and purple aren't exactly in my color scheme.

Paper Piecing

I have always been drawn to Mariner's Compass quilts
whenever we go to quilt shows.

I especially liked this one that we saw
at the Hill City Quilt Show in 2006.

 

One of my goals is to make one someday.

So I am teaching myself how to paper piece.

Let's just say there is a large learing curve here!

I finished two blocks and I must say that I learned a lot on each one.

If I do two hundred more and I might be able to get one right!

 

This is my first one and I was pleased with how it turned out.

I finished this one today.  

Three more large ones and four little ones and I'll have a quilt top.

 

 

 

Of course, I should have been doing laundry since I have to go back to work tomorrow.

I can't believe how quickly Christmas vacation went.

Okay I'm guessing you figured out what doesn't belong in this picture.

But you are too shy to post a comment.

Just in case you haven't figured it out here are some more clues.

Have you figured it out yet?

It will be a Christmas miracle if this tree makes it to Christmas.

New barn kitty adopted by daughter = Christmas tree terror

disclaimer: Ignore the time stamp on the photos. Obviously it isn't set correct. Really, I didn't have my tree up on Jan. 19, 2004.