December Drama...

It's been an eventful 2 weeks. You probably don't remember, but last year I went to an auction at a restaurant that was closing. I was able to win a new freezer. Not just any freezer, but my DREAM freezer. It has 3 doors and 75 cubic square feet. It's beautiful!! It was only 1 1/2 years old when I got it. It's so tall that it wouldn't fit through the garage door. Not a regular door, but the door you raise up and down to drive your car it... it's tall. Anyway, it's such a blessing and I use it a lot. I mean it. A LOT. It is packed to the brim. Ten days ago I went in to the garage to put something in the freezer and when I opened the door the light didn't come one. I looked at the thermostat and saw that the temp in the freezer was 38 degrees. It's usually -3. So, I knew it had been off for a while. My ice cream was already squishy! Roger came home and looked at it and couldn't find anything wrong with it. I called a heat/air guy and he said he'd come look at it the next day, which was a Saturday. I waited for him all day. I called him 4 times! He never showed and never picked up and never called. I was so frustrated because my food was defrosting! I called another heat/air guy and he came out the following Monday and said it looked like the compressor was out. So, I spent the next 2 days farming out all my stuff. We had 1/2 a cow, 5 turkeys, all my veggies/fruit from my garden, about 20 lbs. of chicken breasts...the list goes on. Thanks to the generosity and empty freezers of good friends, all our food is taken care of. The compressor should come in this week and I'm hoping it will be fixed before the weekend. It's going to cost a lot... Merry Christmas.

Then, to top it all off... Our neighbor's dog, of of the 2 that run loose, got into our chicken yard and killed 3 of our chickens. Thankfully, my Reds were in the coop and were safe. But the young chicks we were raising to try to get another female were in the yard and he got 3 of the 4. Naturally, the one that survived was the rooster! Ugh!! My Handy Man was able to go ahead and butcher 2 of the chickens, so I guess it's not a total loss. One of my friends has a rooster that she needed to get rid of, so she brought it over this weekend. He is gorgeous and crows every morning and evening. Handy Man likes to hear the crowing...he says it reminds him of his time growing up in Africa. I don't think the neighbors will appreciate it though, so he has to go...

But, not everything has been so full of drama. I had a few ladies over last week for a cookie party and it went really well. Of course, I didn't slow down enough to take pictures, so you'll just have to believe me that it was fun. I was chosen to host a Betty Crocker Cookie Party. They sent me a package in the mail that had several cookie mixes, treats for goody bags, recipes, and a $15 visa card for supplies. Fun.
I've just been chosen to do a Fun and Fit party in January. They are sending me a package with a special game for the Wii and also some healthy treats. If you're interested, let me know.

We're winding down our school and beginning to get excited about Christmas break. The kids have their piano recital this week and I have a get-together on Wed. evening. I think that's about it for us. Not a lot of things schedule after that... I like it that way :-) Handy Man has been working on his windmill and he's hoping it will be up in January. I keep telling him there's no rush, but he is excited to get it done.

I pray that anyone reading this is able to enjoy the holidays and celebrate the birth of Jesus. Much joy to you....

Adjusting My Clock

I. AM. POOPED!

First things first: I went to bed Thursday night at 10:15. (If you missed my New Year's Challenge, you'll need to go back a couple of posts.) I woke up Friday morning at 6:30. OK, now I'm no dummy, but who knew it would be easier to get up early if you go to bed early? OK, maybe I am a dummy. But, I actually woke up without too much trouble. AND! Are you sitting down? I made WAFFLES for my family! My kids sang my praises as they squeezed cups full of sugary syrup over their hot, buttery towers of waffles. Now, I've heard that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Hence, I could hardly keep my eyes open Friday evening... I'd been up since the ungodly hour of 6:30 a.m. for heaven's sake! No reading in bed for me. I guess I'm "adjusting" my internal clock.

Today, I slept in. :-)

After I leisurely got myself together, I began cooking....and cooking....and cooking. Actually, there wasn't a lot of cooking, but more like a bunch of preparing. I had shopped for about 3 hours on Friday (maybe THAT'S why I was so tired Friday night...?) and had all my stuff ready to go. So, today I assembled 15 freezer meals. And, I have the supplies for 8 more meals that will go in my crock pot. AND, I have 4 lbs. of ground meat cooked and frozen for things like tacos, spaghetti sauce, etc... I cooked for about 4 1/2 hours with a break for lunch. It went really well! And, I've finally transferred all the food out of my old freezer into my new freezer! It runs like a dream! Speaking of dreams... hope yours are sweet. I'm off to bed!

My Week of Projects -- #1

We had such a lovely Christmas. Now, how can I make the most of our little vacation before we have to start school again? I have my list, and I'm checking it twice, of projects I'd like to try to get done before Jan. 5. Today was Project #1. I went to an auction last Sunday and I "won" a new freezer. I know, I know... Roger reminds me that we didn't really "win" anything... "We're paying for it, aren't we?" But, it FEELS like you win... Anyway, today, my Project was to get the garage cleaned up and rearranged so we can put the new freezer in it's spot. It's so beautiful! (The freezer, that it...) It is a commercial freezer and, quite frankly, it's a lot bigger than I realized it would be. It didn't look so big in the shop where I won it...but it's big in my garage. I'm so excited.

So, I got Project #1 completed early this afternoon since the weather was so gorgeous. I'll let you know how my other Projects go...

Did I mention one of the other reasons our Christmas was so great? Granddaddy has arrived! He's been in Siloam for about 3 weeks now and is working on getting unpacked. He's been over many times and we were able to spend Christmas Eve with him, and then Christmas Day with him and Roger's sister Grace and her family, the Davises. We are so very blessed to have him close.

Nothing Is Ever Easy

Are you sitting down? I know this is really going to come to a shock to you, but here goes.... Zack, my biggest baby, got his drivers license Friday. Breathe...In...Out...In...Out... I truly don't know why they give little boys drivers licenses, but they did. He won't be 16 until next month, but now he has it. And, it was something we had to work for. The nice officer that does the driving test only does the driving part on Thursdays and Fridays from 12:30-2:30. We were encouraged by veteran parents to, "get there early". Roger took Zack at 12:10. Now the reason that Roger took Zack is that I am basically freaked out the entire time I'm in the car and Zack is behind the wheel. It's not because he's a bad driver...he's not bad, just inexperienced and I don't handle it well. Meanwhile, Roger reads...or is looking at the pretty scenery... I sit in the back seat trying to see over Roger's head so I can have enough time to brace myself if needed. Anyway, when they arrived for the test, there were already 3 people in front of him. There was no way they were going to finish by 1:00 so Roger could go to the hospital. So, he called in the backup! Me! Drat those cellphones!! I was instructed to bring the van to the test so Roger could take it to work and Zack could drive the Toyota. Unfortunately, I was right in the middle of defrosting the freezer and had coolers and sacks of sweating food all around me. I quickly gave Zane a crash course in how to us a blow dryer to melt ice and how to put everything back in the freezer. My younger kids wanted to go to the library for the afternoon movie at 2:00. "Surely I'll be home by 1:30", I told myself. I couldn't be more wrong! The officer finally got to Zack at 1:30. I figured we were still ok. Each test was taking about 15 minutes. That would still give me enough time to take Zack back to work, pick up the kids and take them to the library, then hi-ho home to get the food in the freezer. We were good... Unfortunately, the nice officer pointed out that we had a tail light that wouldn't seem to light up! And no, you can't take the driving test with a busted out tail light. The nice officer told me I could go get it fixed and then come back. So, I took Zack to work with no license. On my way to pick up the kids, Roger called and said I should come back to pick up Zack and let him take the test in the van! Genius! So, I drop off the kids at the library, pick up Zack and go back to the test. The nice officer is happy to let him test but needs to see our insurance and registration. After Zack gives it to him, the nice officer kindly points out that our registration is EXPIRED! And no, you can't take the test with expired registration. I KNOW I put the registration in the van...where is it??? So, we prepare to drive off and I find it. This year it is not printed on the obvious yellow paper that we are used to...it's on white paper, and it's smaller, so we had overlooked it. So, we turn around and head back. It's 3:00 now. Did I mention that the armory where the test is given is unairconditioned? And, there's nowhere to sit inside, so everyone just sits on the porch, on the ground? And, that the bank thermometer read 97 degrees when I passed it the first time? The nice officer agrees to let Zack test, but puts him at the end of the line. At 3:30, I jump in the van and go to the library to pick up the kids. They want to stay at the library, so I drive BACK to the armory. We finally do the test, pass, and leave the parking lot at 4:30. I pick up the kids from the library and imagine all the defrosted food in my kitchen. Thankfully, Zane had stuffed it all back into the freezer. Even with all that food in the freezer, we went out to eat that night.