Saturday, November 24, 2012

BLESSED

We had some disappointments, but all in all, it was a great day.  One son had to work, one grandson woke up sick this morning so he and his mom didn't come, one daughter couldn't make it, etc, but  for those that came, it was a great day.

The greatest Thanksgiving blessing was a huge surprise for us!  Our granddaughter Courtney is living and working in Idaho, and we haven't seen her for so long.  Surprise!  She came today!  It was so great so see her and visit with her.  She has grown up so much since the last time we saw her.  Love you Courtney!

And for the first time in a long time, I had all of my 6 granddaughters together in one place!  It was so much fun to visit with them, and listen to their conversations.  And to take a couple of pictures.......
These beauties are:  Kjirsten, the mother of the great grand princess Abby, and Katie in the back.  In the front are Eden, not really my grandkid, but I'd take her in a minute!, Madison, Anna, Jaden, and Courtney, the Thanksgiving surprise.  I also had 3 of the grandsons there, but I didn't line them up for a picture!

And of course, we had fun with the great grand princess, Abby.  She is the best baby ever. 
Sleeping with her mommy
Sleeping with her grandma
And all bundled up in her fuzzy pink hat, ready to go home.

My life is so full of blessings.  I cannot imagine life without even one of my 7 kids, their spouses, the 15 grandkids, and now, one great grand daughter.  God has been so good to me!

Friday, November 23, 2012

THANKSGIVING MEALS

Yesterday, on Thanksgiving Day, we drove 2 hours northeast to Stillwater, to Kevin and Molly's home for dinner.  Molly had decorated outside of the house for Christmas, and had continued inside to the lovely table for our Thanksgiving dinner.  She cooked a turkey which was perfectly browned, and nice and juicy and tender.





And it didn't take long for it to look like this.  Ummmm good!




We drove home in sleet and snow, a huge contrast to Wednesday afternoon when the temperature hit 70.  Now today I had to get busy.  I am having the gang here tomorrow for dinner.  I decided everyone would be full of turkey, so I opted for a ham.  And baked potatoes, calico beans, meat and vegetarian styles, broccoli salad (thank you Kari), corn,  cranberry bread, and these goodies I baked today.  I made corn muffins and pumpkin bread.  But look what happened to one of the mini loaves of pumpkin bread.  It somehow baked about two slices shorter than the other ones.  Wonder how that happens?
Her Royal Highness, the Great Grand Princess Abby will be here, so you might get to see a picture or two.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

THE PRINCESS ABBY

Sometimes the Great Grand Princess Abby wears camo.  With ruffles on her butt, of course.

Thanks to her grandmother for the picture that I stole off fb.

I have nothing else to say today, except that it is 63 degrees in Minnesota on the day before Thanksgiving!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  This little gal is just one of our many blessings this year.

Just an update:  The local TV station said it hit 70 yesterday!  However, 20's are in the near future!

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

D E L I N Q U E N T

My name is Marge and I am a delinquent blogger.

I have no excuse. 

Wait.  That's a lie.

I joined Facebook and it has taken over my computer time.

I still have many favorite blogs that I check daily, and even comment on, and I act like nothing is different.  But I'm being a fraud.  It is different.  Facebook is so easy, and so instant, and so much fun.  And everyone is doing it.  (Yes, mom, if everyone jumped off a cliff I would probably follow.)

That is my excuse.  (And Lisa, do not tell me you told me so.)

So, after two months of not blogging, I am going to make an attempt to keep up with both, starting with this post, even if there is no one out there still reading here after my 2 month absence.

Some of you may remember that we purchased a new freezer this summer to hold the garden produce tomatoes.  It is full.  And  yes, it is mostly tomatoes.  After all, what do you expect from 33 tomato plants.  So, when hubby decided to stock up on some meat, not because we are worried about TEOTWAWKI, but because I really don't like to grocery shop, and with veggies tomatoes in the freezer, a pantry full of flours and bread making and other baking supplies, we thought if we had meat, too, I wouldn't need to shop as often.  But we had just bought a new freezer so the funds were not there for another.

Craigslist to the rescue.

Ernie scoured the listings for a week or two, and finally found a freezer that sounded promising.  It was from a town within 30 miles of here, so checking it out would be easy.  There was no picture, nor was there a phone number.  Just an email address.  Ernie dashed off an email, saying he would like to look at the freezer.  He waited several days and received no reply, so he sent off another email asking if it had sold yet.  And still no reply.  He figured it was sold, so he started looking for another.

One afternoon a few weeks later, when he was in the garage playing with the nails and bolts and tools, his phone rang.  When he answered a voice on the other end loudly asked "do you want to look at that freezer?  I'm within 15 minutes of your place and I can stop by."  Uh?  You drive around with your for sale freezer, and bring it by to show people?  Well, whatever.

Soon an old truck with a trailer pulled up out front, with the freezer loaded on the trailer.  Out jumped an interesting looking fellow who boasted a mouth full of at least three teeth.  "Here it is.  $100."  The freezer wasn't spotless by any means, and it did have a few spots of rust on the bottom of the door, but it looked in pretty good condition.  Ernie said he'd give the guy $80.  "Nope, got to have $90," the guy said.  Ernie agreed, paid up, and off loaded the freezer, and moved enough stuff around in the garage to fit it in.

He cleaned it up, I ran to town and bought some appliance paint for the rust spots, and we plugged it in.  It now holds a quarter beef, a bit of pork, and most importantly, some bacon.

Turns out the guy doesn't even have a computer.  He used his mom's or grandmother's computer to post the freezer on Craigslist, then a couple of weeks later, when he was at that same house taking the freezer out, he checked his email and found Ernie's reply.  So he just drove out here with the freezer on the trailer.   I wonder if he had other replies, and if Ernie had not bought it, would he have driven around to each person to show them the freezer?  Interesting character.

The freezer is working just fine.