Where Have I Been?

Golly, I am so sorry for the long absence.

So many things have happened; that and life.

This happened...

 Our daughter got married!!!  He is the best for her.  I could really go on and on!

 My son-in-love's mom is one of my closest friends.  I was his first Sunday School teacher.  God is SO good.  He answered so many of my prayers.

Adjusting to life without her in the house has been different, to say the least.


We got...

Midge (here with our niece).  You can follow/like her on FB.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Midge-the-One-eyed-Chihuahua/663862947035506

I cut my hair.

BEFORE...If only it stayed like this all day...everyday!

 I found somewhere that would take grey & low-lighted hair.

AFTER.

I went here with Hubby.

Camping.  Not something that I normally like.  I had fun and would do it again.

There are more things, but that is for another post.  If there is anyone still reading...THANKS!

Sisters "Draft" Post #2"

*This was from a year ago..almost to the day.*

While in cali us girls had some free time.  My sister and I did something that we haven't done in years.
I did her hair.
My sister has a ton of hair, thick, curly hair.
Her only request was that it be off of her face.
Here I am trying one of those braids that is like a headband.
It didn't look good.

I ended up curly her whole head!!  It looked so pretty.  I wish I had a picture, but my camera's batteries died.

Spending time with my sister is such a precious treasure.  We are so different and yet so alike.  There is no one like her.  She is truly one of a kind.  God knew what He was doing when He made my little sister.  She is an awesome woman of God.

Girly Day

 I had three precious girls from church over today.  We played beauty parlor.

 Made oatmeal cookies and had dinner.

 I tried the waterfall braid for the first time.

They even made our kitchen sparkle after!!

Around Here

Christmas present

Our neighbor had a downed tree sitting there in his yard for some time.  We asked, he said yes and we made it into these.

Son sprayed them with a light stain and sealer.

We are getting rid of the chicks and got some new hens...I know we are hard to keep up with.

New girl trying to fit in.

Last but not least, our girl Midge sitting on her favorite place, laundry.

Henny Penny

 Thought it was time for a hen update.  Here's Shantel.  Our son's hen.  We think she's the producer of the brown eggs with speckles.  She is the plumpest one of the bunch.  If you go into get an egg that she's sitting on she may peck you.  I usually leave the egg/s there if she's sitting onto of them.

 This is Ginger, one of our Americaunas.  She lays pale green eggs.  She doesn't stand out all that much.  The Easter Layers are calmer and quieter than the other breeds.

 Not sure if this is Red or Phoneix.   I have to see them together to tell.  She too lays brown eggs.  She is one of the noisy hens.  These Production Reds are the rowdy girls in the bunch.  They will peck at your legs, toes, etc.  Especially Red.

 We had some bad winds a few days ago.  Here's what it did to the coop.  Good thing the cold weather is almost over.  See Ginger, she lead me everywhere today.

 Cheeky aka "Cleopatra" and either Red or Phoneix laying eggs.  Doing what we love!!  Hoping it's a five egg day.  We need more of those.

One last shot of the camera friendly Ginger.

Random

 Selfies at the Apple store in El Paso.  We are now apple converts.

 Son took this pic of our two dogs.  He loves this affect.  We got Midge spade Sat. and are taking Dolly into the vet today to have some of her bumps looked at.  She is getting old and has many large bumps.  Two of which she keeps scratching and won't let heal.  I need to have "that" talk with the vet to see if she is in pain, etc.  I almost cried giving her a bath today.

Yes, green velvet cupcakes for St. Patty's Day.  We try to have people over every year for corned beef and cabbage, and any other Irish food we throw in.

 And yes, we did.  We did get more chicks.  We wanted to buy a hen who is already laying, but they are very hard to come by.  We are going through eggs like crazy, thanks to growing teen son.  This little chicks are growing so fast.

We are not sure what breed these are, the store didn't even know.  The all cream one is Blanca.  The one with the big black spot is Dot and the other is Ink.

More Visitors

Earlier this year we had my sister and her family come for great visit.

We went to Tulie Creek.

The boys.

The girls...not too happy about getting their pics taken.

Auntie (me) and Beautiful niece.

The kids were going to go down the Poop Shoot, but it didn't work out.

Visitors

My grandma and mom came for a short visit.  We had such a good time.

Here's what happened.

Four generations.  

We drove to the mountains and stopped at The Old Apple Barn.  Great place for photo shoots.

Hubby (being hubby) and my mom.

Family shot.

Grandma was nervous to go all of the way out on the look out.  Hubby convinced her to go and she wasn't disappointed.

Hubby is such to jokester acting like they are falling.

22 Things I Love About my Hubby

This month Hubby and I celebrated 22 years of marriage.

Here are 22 things I love about being married to my hubby:

1. He is always funny, always.

2. He is so ever patient.

3. He has given me a sense of adventure.

4. He is a wonderful dad.

5. He loves God.

6. He likes me just for me.  No pretending needed here.

7. He loves to cook and even clean afterwards.

8. There is always someone to talk to, who will listen.

9. Our walks, all of them, long and short.

10. He is affectionate.

11. He gives a different perspective on life that is very needed at times.

12. He REALLY balances me out.

13. He is rather cute, handsome and ...good on the eyes.

14. He helps around the house.

15. He is a very hard worker.

16. He helps with the kids.

17. He has been by my side through some major times and I know he will still be there for those to come.

18. He is out-going.

19. I have done, seen, tasted things & gone places I would've never tried without him.

20. He warms my side of the bed on cold nights, then rolls over to his cold side when I come in.

21. He knows me like no one else.

22. I can trust him.

That was probably the easiest list I have ever wrote. I could really go one and on.

Looking forward to 22+ more years with my best friend!

Where Have I Been?

How does one encapsulate almost 20 years of being a housewife/stay-at-home mom and two weeks of going back into the workforce as a special ed assistant in a blog post?

I honestly don't know, but I am going to try.

It was time.
Time for me to go back to work.  I have to say right up front that I have never been one to want to go back into work.  I LOVED staying at home and almost all things domestic.  However, with one kid done with school and working full-time and one back in public school and hubby and one or two other things...it was time.

After many applications and three interviews, I got a job at the high school as a special educational assistant.
Boy, was I excited!  And a bit not knowing what to expect.
This job is such a mixed bag:
*I haven't loved and disliked a job on such a level before.
*Some days, some minutes, actually some seconds you can feel so content and full then feel frustrated and mad the very next.
*Some kids make your day, not matter what.  Other kids...well...you get the picture.
*I have felt to humbled by the intensity of the job and at the same time empowered.
*I don't see certain "duties" as a bother at all anymore.

The first week I was sorta tossed into it.  Thankfully there was a lady that start the same day.  I felt so much like a fish out of water for two days.  Now I feel like I have been there much, much longer than two weeks.  I have had so many great, funny conversations with a nonverbal student, changed teenage boy diapers, pushed and pushed wheelchairs around (my poor hamstrings screamed on day 3), broken up a few fights, ran after a couple of "runners", been hugged, kissed, drooled on, pinched, scratched, bruised (sometimes all in the same day), cooked with them, cleaned with them, learn more things than I thought I'd ever learn at this job.

I feel tougher.  I have felt broken down.  I feel fuller.  I have felt like giving up.  I have gotten so connected to the students.  And yet when one or two of them are absent golly, it is so much calmer.

I really like the the people I work with.  I love the kids in our class, even the hard ones.  I do miss being at home, but am getting a routine.  I don't know how long I am going to work, but man do Fridays take on a-whole-nother meaning these days.

They're Chicken

So the other day we had a rather eventful chicken day.

It started out with Little Joe crowing...FOR THE FIRST TIME!!
It was rather cute, like he had a sore throat.
We are going to see how much and how loud he gets.  We may have to trade him as we aren't supposed to have roosters in the city.

 Hiding.

A little later in the day one of the hens, Cheeky AKA Cleopatra, fell into an empty trash can and FREAKED out!  When one freaks they all freak.

The same day, they are out free ranging and I hear them making "scared" noises.  I look out just in time to see a hawk swooping down.  Scared that bad boy away, only to see a hungry cat right next to our wall a little while later.  I kept them in their coop for like two days.

I really think they got shook.  When they come out to free range they don't hardly go anywhere.  They really feel safe in their coop.