Not too much is new!

Well, I'm posting out of obligation! Paula sent me a little note saying"I hope your updating your blog!" So, here I am. I do have a few pics to share. Above is a nice Big Apple off my tree...don't ask why I took that picture...I just did, no explanation at all! Then we have the nice apple pie I took to our church dinner on Sunday. I must say, it turned out quite nicely! I don't have beautiful edges on my pies...I'm more about the taste. I LOVE TO EAT PIE CRUST! Especially when it's got cinnamon/sugar and Butter on it. Good Lord, that should be outlawed.

Tonite, after supper, I took my boys north of town to a sunflower field. I've been wanting to get their picture there for several weeks and had not made it. I about waited too long, they were not nearly as pretty as they were a few weeks ago. But we got a few pics. Not because they wanted to....but simply out of..."I'm your mom and I said so" obligation. AAAhhhhh...my boys do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT like having their picture taken any more. They think I'm obsessed with taking photos...what? Maybe so, but I can if I want to!!! They were being so silly it was very hard to get a picture and on top of that, we had mosquitos as big as a.....well BIG---chewing on us fast and furious. After about 20 mins we left...oh well, I got a few decent shots, none I want to jump up and down over, certainly nothing like I planned in my little brain! But...despite all the hassle, I'm thankful for the few I did get. Some of those sunflowers were SOOOOOO Big. Wow. I didn't have my camera a few weeks ago when they were in all their Glory. What a beautiful sight it was. Sorry I won't be sharing that with you guys.

Ok, Now I'm frustrated...the picture of the boys walking will NOT turn the right way after I've put it into the blog. Go figure. I neglected to do it before I downloaded it. I'm sure there is a way, but I'm not up for messing with it tonite. Have a great week. Keep smiling!

GO CHIEFS!!!!! Our team was back yesterday! YEA!

BlueGrass '08...an Interesting One

Well, it's official, Bluegrass is over and we actually Camped at our family business...kind of weird, but it was actually pretty darn fun. The flooded fairgrounds made for a quick evacuation of the camping and dispersal throughout our county and the one west of us. It all worked out ok. It certainly wasn't the same but everyone made it work...and it's definitely one for the books! My boys ended up with tshirts that stated this: Flood, Mud and Pickin, 2008. Pretty cute and oh so true. We had some pretty good music camped out at the barn, some from Kansas City, Topeka and some from Texas. I had a lot of fun singing with them. Of course we camped with our usual crew and cooked good food, drank hot coffee and had campfire at night! I took some pics, none of which I'm very impressed with but I do have proof we were there.

I'm very saddened this evening as my neighbor across the street has passed away. She was not very old(50's), had cancer and had gotten the flu over the weekend and was put into the hospital. It just doesn't seem fair, although I didn't think it was fair to see her suffering like she was either. I had gone over a couple of weeks ago and taken her an apple cobbler and we had a really nice visit. I'm so glad. I need about 10 sympathy cards...I love to get mine from the Dollar Store, in pkgs of 8 and low and behold they have been out. I must go tonite and see if they have any yet. Need to think of something to do for my neighbor's husband...they have 4 daughters...youngest is in college. I can't imagine losing my mom right now, at 36, but I sure couldn't imagine it at 20....God be with them.

I'm on a mission for a new Bible. I have an NIV that I've had for several years and I do like it alot...but I recently read upon something that I was NOT happy with how it was worded. Bummer. I do know what I want...I want the Amplified Version...Joyce Meyer. Also...one of my dear friends has read the book, The Shack....she HIGHLY recommends it and I'm going to be purchasing it as well as both of these things can be found at our local Wally World...not that I want to purchase it there, but....my options are limited and it would be more cost effective than ordering it. Ooooohh I can't wait to get going on a new read! I've got so many irons in my fire right now...Oh well, makes life interesting! Need to help out my neighbor with some pics...Have a blessed week!

Also, thanks to all of you who took my "washing machine" poll. Your comments were all helpful as well. I do think I'm going to purchase a front loader...but the great thing is...I'm not in desperation for it now and I've got time to shop and compare!

It's Obvious

Here is the evidence of all the rain we've had...my boys have found a mudhole in the yard and increased it in size by quite a little....and what fun they had. More fun than I'm going to have trying to get those darn clothes clean.....oh well.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

This pic on the left is looking toward our campground..it's actually a little to the left of those tents. So many people left stuff, thinking it wasn't going to be that bad...do they think we just make this stuff up?!?!?!

This picture below is looking south in the Pecan Grove, the river has made its way right on into the grove....someone's hay bales they had in camp...It was starting to get dark on us as we were wandering around last night.
















I can't believe all the rain we've had here in the last several days. I think around 9 inches. My new rain gauge is on top of my microwave, still in its nice little package. Does a great job for me there Huh? Anywhoo...that's the talk around town. It's created quite a little problem for our town as the Walnut River runs thru the west side which is where our County Fairgrounds are located. We are having the Walnut Valley Festival a/k/a/ Bluegrass Festival next weekend. We had Land Rush last Thursday...in the mud, got camp all set up as best we could just in time to move it all out Friday a.m. cause our river was on the rise. To the tune of 3 ft per hour on the rise. We were unfortunately on the West side of the fairgrounds so water was coming to camp at a fast pace. Before long it was a mandatory evacuation everywhere in the fairgrounds. Now....the water is almost up to our fair barns and the "Pecan Grove" on the south is completely under water. Pretty crazy. The Walnut Valley Festival has quite a history, this would be the 37th year for the festival and it brings ALOT of people to our community for several weeks. Everyone has been dispersed into several places. We actually have a camping group at the Sale Barn....pretty interesting to see Campers instead of cattle pots and stock trailers in the parking lot! I don't know if the river has crested yet...but even if it has and the water starts to recede...I don't think their going to let us back in to camp. It will be an absolute mess, as this is not the first time the fairgrounds have flooded....it is however, a first for the Festival to have this kind of a problem. I went to Wichita today and they are having MAJOR flooding on the west side. Oh my gosh...it's just really bad all around us. And we're so far removed from that darn hurricane!

What the Heck?

Ok, I changed the background of my blog and lost all of my "stuff" I had on the side. Widgets I think they called them. What did I do wrong? Someone...who is computer, blogger, techno saavy...please help me!?!?!?!?! I can't believe I did that. I'm not even sure what I did?
AAAAHHHHH

Nothing Much

How about this little praying mantis? Found him last weekend while clipping flowers. Those things fascinate me.

My new coffee table and end table. No that is NOT a baby raccoon on the right side of the end table, next to the chair, that would be our wonderful Davey Crockett Hat!

My coleus and impatients did very well this year.

Well, I thought I might post a few pics of just...stuff. Had a fairly un-eventful weekend. I did several things yesterday, grocery store, a retirement party then home to start in putting up apples. I decided to start that around 330 pm. Actually went well, CB wanted to help me, so I sent both boys out with sacks to pick apples and when they got back in, I got a small knife out and a cutting board, I peeled, CB sliced and lemon juiced the apples. I ended up with 2 cobblers for a couple of my neighbors and 4 bags in the freezer for later. Not too bad for a couple of hours work---it really went much better than I anticipated with my little helper! Shame on me for doubting it to be any other way! Made a nice pot of chili(it's so nice and cool here) and we had chili pies for supper and vegged for the evening. Church was so good today, our new pastor speaks very well and......today, he played the guitar and sang....a song HE WROTE! Oh wow...it was great! I was very impressed. What a treat.

I've got a few pics of my new furniture I bought...you know, the new to me kind! I'm really enjoying the tables alot! Just a note, my couch is also a garage sale find! We love it!

My apple tree, we've lived here 9 years and this is the first time to enjoy these awesome things! Don't really know what we did or didn't do, but I am so happy to have them! I will probably weigh about 500# if I keep making these apple cobblers. Good thing for neighbors. Let them eat it!

A Must Share!

I'm sharing a recipe with all of you that is so easy and so delish. You can all thank my wonderful Mother-in-law for this one! She made this awhile back and I fell in love...I'm taking it to my folks today for dinner.

Grape Salad
4# grapes, red, green, black or just one color is ok
8 oz cream cheese(oooohh)
1 cup sour cream(aaahhh)
1/3 cup sugar or splenda(mmmmm)
1 Tbsp vanilla
Beat cream chesse, sour cream, sugar and vanilla until smooth and fold in grapes. Before serving you can sprinkle 3 Tbsp brown sugar and 3 Tbsp of chopped nuts on top for a little pretty on top!
Did I mention this was EASY! I love grapes, I love sour cream and I love cream cheese, how could I not love this salad!
This has been a low key weekend, we went to a fund raiser on Sat night for the Groom family(their son had the heart transplant). Had good supper and a silent auction, DH sold the live auction and lots of money was raised for them! It was awesome! Tyler was there and he looked so wonderful! He had 3 of his nurses from OKC come up as well and they stayed all evening! Very cool. We live in a great community and I'm proud to be a part of that!
I finished scrapbooking my baby book gift. It really turned out pretty cute.
As I'm typing this a.m., I'm watching the weather channel update on Hurricane Gustav....wow, They just interviewed a man who is going to ride out the storm on his boat. What?!!?? There are ten adults in this group of people and 8 children. May God protect them. Have wonderful day!