On the Farm

The animals are keeping us busy. About two weeks ago, on a Friday afternoon, I was home alone.  A rare occurrence.  Olivia was at a friends’ house, John was on his way home from an appointment, and I had 15 minutes before I had to pick Elliott up from practice. It was beautiful outside, so I grabbed my book and went out to sit on the front porch to read. Ruddie was laying on the grass enjoying the warmth from the sun.  As I read, I heard a snort. Then I heard a second snort and I jumped up and looked over my shoulder and there they were.  Our two pigs were walking across the yard like it was an everyday occurrence. By the time I put my book down and ran down the stairs, I had to get them out of my flower bed. I managed to get them around the corner of the house. 

They started to rut while Ruddie persistently tried to get under the belly of the larger pig. I had to get him out of the way so put him in his kennel. He is so good, all I had to do was say “let’s go” and he ran to his kennel.  As they flung sod around, I ran into the house to call John, tell him what was going on and find out how long it would be before he would arrive home.  I stood in our yard, watching them tear up our lawn while waiting for John to pull in the driveway.  When he finally arrived, he went over to the shed to get some feed. After all, it was dinner time.  In the meantime, I ran to the garage and grabbed an apple. The larger pig loved it. So I ran back to the garage and took two apples.  I held them in front of their snouts and lead them toward their “hog hotel”. They followed, taking their time until we were about three-quarters of the way along the lower pond.  They saw their shed and ran to it. John was there and together we got them through the opened fence.  Once inside, I held the fence in place while John went to get materials to repair the opening.

 

Last Sunday, John was up early to go to work.  After feeding Ruddie, he let him out. Ruddie barked, he seldom barks, so I got out of bed to tell John. I wasn’t sure if he heard the bark.  We both thought he might have found the bear in the field as we have one wandering the hillside.  We both went out on the back deck and John called for Ruddie.  He finally came but stopped half-way on the back hill, sat down and would not look at us.  John walked up to get him and said “Oh no”.  Thinking the worse, I said “what?”  He told me that Ruddie met a porcupine.  It was 3:47 am! John brought him into the house, I sat with him and talked to calm him down while John looked for a specific pair of pliers.  That seemed to take forever and then he wanted to take a picture of Ruddie (and he still would not look at John). 

We pulled 16 quills out of his face within a few minutes.  Ruddie got rather nasty near the end so John had to hold him alone to remove all the quills.  What an experience to go through. Let’s hope he learns from this and turns away if he ever encounters a porcupine again.   

Last weekend we had no adventures with the animals.  They must be content!

Improvements

Improvements

Home improvements to be honest keep us working.  We have a list of what we need to do and then I have a list of what I want for our home or yard.  Pinterest is a grand tool but I pin away, when I make time to log on, and there the ideas sit.

This year, we added two very comfy and beautiful chairs to our dining room. John wanted chairs we could sit, that were not in the family room. The distance would allow us to talk or read while others could watch television in the family room.

The buying experience, rather the material decision, was a challenge. We loved the chairs - England - made in the USA. Choosing a fabric - color, correct sized pattern, pattern or solid - but I kept going back to one pattern. After two trips to the store, John said, "you keep picking that pattern so let's go with that."  I agreed and then I questioned my choice. Would the colors and pattern work with our dining room and kitchen?  I always get so nervous about design. I know what I like and so far, it has created a homey, warm house. 

Well, the chairs were delivered a few months ago and I have to say, I still love them!  Obviously I did a fair job as my mother-in-law raved over them - pattern, style, etc. She was so impressed, she was going to go furniture shopping. 

So what do you think? (Not that it really matters....)

Here is a closeup of the pattern  - love the colors.

When I think of her

So many words come to mind when I think of her.  She is beautiful, thoughtful, intelligent, creative, determined as well as stubborn, a true and devoted friend, moody, and “a know-it-all” – she’s a teenager after all – what do we, her parents know?! We are proud of her and love her so very much. 

I remember when she was placed in my arms and how I felt when I looked at her precious face.  She was beautiful then and even more so today.  She still makes me catch my breath!  Sixteen years have flown by and I know we’ll be dropping her off at college in no time.

Turning sixteen was a big deal for her. A year of opportunities! She wanted to get her drivers’ permit on her birthday and her father took her in for the test. She passed it - aced it actually - and was so very excited.  She also applied for her first job and had an interview the week of her birthday. She created a resume, wrote a cover letter, and called individuals to see if they would be a reference for her.  She nailed the interview.  I was amazed and proud at how calm and confident she looked.  That was almost ten months ago and she has been driving a lot and she enjoys her job.  I am proud of her work ethic and the way she is managing her time. She is dedicated to working hard and she has received comments about her performance since the first day on the job. She tells me what people say and talks about the events she works at.  I am blessed that she has this wonderful opportunity to work at the university, work with professionals and college students and experience earning her own money.  She was thrilled with her first real paycheck and celebrated by shopping. She had a list of things she wanted to buy. She also bought Christmas gifts for her family.  She has planned to give herself a small allowance from each paycheck and save the rest for college.  She is a girl with a mission as she plans for college. 

School has kept her busy as she is taking four AP classes, is the editor of the yearbook, is a member of three clubs, plays flute and is in the band and she was on the track and field team this year!  She is a strong supporter of her close friends - she attended many home games to cheer them on earlier this school year.

She is finishing her junior year with regents exams this week and a presentation in French.  She went to prom just a few weeks ago with Pawel. He is an exchange student from Poland and he leaves soon. We’ll be dealing with a heart-broken daughter. Pawel is a nice young man and they have enjoyed getting to know each other. Perhaps a trip to Poland will be in our future.

A quick review of her year in pictures:

Spirit Week took place in September, here she is with her friend dressed for a 50's-themed day:

 

On November 10, she was inducted into the National Honor Society:

 

On January 21, she went to the Snowball dance - always a reason to shop for dresses!

And to finish the year she attended Prom on May 20:

At the Scholarship and Athletic Awards last week, Olivia was the recipient of two scholarships. One was for $120,000.00 over four years and the other one was for a total of $28,000.00. Unfortunately, they are for colleges that she won't attend because they do not offer the academic programs she is interested in. 

After a busy school year, she has a busy summer ahead of her. She will continue to work. She is taking a drivers’ education course offered at the high school from early July to August. She passed her road test in early May and has been taking the car to various places.  I have been praying a lot. She has rules to follow and has done well following them. She plans to take a summer course so she can take a business course next year.  Ambitious is what she is. Somehow this summer, we need to plan a trip to Rhode Island to visit the Johnson and Wales University as well as another trip to the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, NY.

And once summer ends, my baby will start her senior year in September as she turns 17 years old.

Where has the time gone?

Iced Goodness

I had Monday, January 16, off so I spent time in the kitchen. I started a fire early in the dining room fireplace and I like to stay close to keep an eye on it. After cleaning up from breakfast, I decided to make some cookies to fill the cookie jars. Two small cookie jars and two kinds of cookies. I made chocolate chip cookies and iced oatmeal cookies. After icing the oatmeal cookies I sent my sister a text and photo. I had to tease her as she ate quite a few of the iced cookies when she visited us last fall. I told her if she lived nearby, we could sit and enjoy some tea and cookies!  How I wish she lived nearby and not half a day away. 

This recipe is for you dear sister, with love.

Iced Oatmeal Cookies

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar

½ cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Glaze:

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

3 Tbsp. milk

Preheat oven to 350˚. Spray baking sheets with cooking spray and set aside.

Place rolled oats in a food processor and pulse for about 10 seconds until coarse (I don’t always do this). Mix oats with flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add vanilla. Gradually combine flour mixture until combined. 

Roll dough into 2 tablespoon size balls and place on baking sheets, placing about 2 inches apart.

 

Bake for 10-12 minutes until the bottoms begin to brown.  Cool completely before icing. 

Mix glaze ingredients.* Mixture will be stiff.  I dip the tops of the cookies in the glaze and set on wax paper and let glaze harden. You can also drizzle glaze over cookies. 

Fills the cookie jar and you'll have enough to share - with a neighbor, family members, co-workers!

*Note – I half the glaze recipe. I found the full recipe above was too much and I had to throw some out. 

I made this recipe for the first time on January 17, 2013. Obviously, it was not put in our recipe binder but it can be found there now. 

Little Pleasures

Two weekends ago, my daughter and I went shopping. She needed a dress for an upcoming dance so we decided to shop in Vestal.  The first store we shopped in she found her dress. Next on the list was shoes. We ventured into a few stores, me toting the bagged dress because the shoes have to match perfectly. I planned to treat her to lunch since I had treated our son to dinner not too long ago.  I was enjoying our day together!  She had different plans since she had a Cold Stone Creamery gift card. We looked up the location of the nearest store and went there.  Ice cream for lunch!  Not what I planned for lunch but we enjoyed our cold treat and had a nice conversation as we ate. 

Back to shopping, as she needed shoes before we returned home!  We made a few stops and she found a pair of heels. There were a few more stores to browse and one more plaza to stop at. I saw a HomeGoods store on our way that I planned to stop at.  We finally made it to HomeGoods.  It did not take us long before we had a few items.  Olivia found some items for two of her friends that have January birthdays.  I found a set of metal measuring spoons!  I was so excited. I have wanted a set of these for a few years. They always appeared on my Christmas or birthday list but never came boxed and wrapped. I treated myself and spent $8.00 on the set.  Excitement! Now I have a set that are metal, the measurement is stamped into the metal so no fading or flaking off.  We paid for our purchases and visited a few more stores. 

The last store we went to was a shoe store. I found a nice pair of winter boots – on sale – and a pair of slippers – also on sale. I was finding a few things I needed and they were on sale. I wanted to keep shopping but Olivia said we could leave. I showed her my boots and slippers.  I told her they were on sale and asked her if she wanted a pair of slippers?  I had only made it to one aisle and she was ready to go. Oh well, good thing because normally I am not a shopper but deals can make me want to shop. 

I was also watching the time as kickoff was at 4:30 p.m. for the Packer / Cowboy game. We made it home with plenty of time before the game started. Enough time for me to make dough for Stromboli that I planned to make for dinner at half time.  I can’t say the game was great. The Packers had a strong start but then they started to fall apart – players were injured, Aaron was sacked or was pressured to pass, balls were dropped. I couldn’t walk away though. It was torture but in the end, Packers won!  Go Pack Go!