Fun Stuff going on at home!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Day! Glenn and I putts (sp) around the house until Easter Dinner. Amanda, Dustin and Lucy joined us for dinner, Lucy looked for Easter eggs and was a fun night for all.

Lets see to catch you up on our life; most of you already know Glenn's involvement with Toast Masters but what you don't know is, his competions in speech is doing really well. So far Glenn and Co Worker Carla are going to regional in April and if they place either 1st or 2nd they will go onto state in Portland. So far Carla has a wonderful 7 minute speech and has taken 1st place with Glenn right on her toes with his great 7 minute speech, his speech has put him in 2nd place through out these competitions and I must say I am really proud of him, Good Job Glenn!

Can you believe it I am over 1/2 way through with the kitchen cupboards, Yippee! This has been one long road to ride on but the final result will be much appreciated. When I get tired of the slow progress I just look back at the awful before photo, then look at the new results and that is enough to keep me on track.

I am excited for gardening to start, we are adding something every special to our front yard which needs it desperately. I tend to just keep the front yard free of weeds and such and then put the creativity in the back yard well not this year. We were inspired from the Country Gardens magazine that Better Homes and Garden puts out. Here is what we are going to do;

Hey guess what I found out from the same magazine, you can grow carrots in a container! Who would of thought, I have not had much luck with carrots and I really don't understand why so I am going to try this process and see what happens. So today I am off to the Redmond Antique store to see if I can find wooden crates.

Take a look at my Aero Garden! What a great way to get through the winter, while you are waiting spring or summer to come.

So if I forgot to add something I will blog about it next time, like the outdoor bathing area we are putting together! Have I peaked your interest well more to come. Betts

Lucy's 3rd Birthday

Happy 3rd Birthday to Lucy! Grandma Betty was very excited that Lucy is showing an interest in flowers and gardening. As you can see by the very special watering can she got from us.

Lucy's Daddy and Aunt Monica waiting for their Ice Cream.

Lucy was so cute with the intense concentration she displayed as she opened her presents.

Candy Land, what a great game for kids.

I sure enjoy this little girl, or should I say "very big girl" being 3 and all.

We love you Lucy, Happy 3rd Birthday Grandpa Glenn and Grandma Betty!

Few days on the "farm" will do you some good!

Last week I decided to go spend a few days with my Mother on her farm/ranch. What a great time we had enjoying each others company. It is so funny how things change when your parents age, you know your Mom or Dad are strong but as they age to 80+ you really see how strong they are! I admire the will to grow old gracefully as possible I really want to remember this as I am turning the wonderful age of "50" this year. I can't believe it and Mom really has a hard time putting "50" with her youngest child...

A beautiful day in Eastern Washington as I crossed the Columbia River bridge from Oregon. Farmers were out working up the dirt from the winter rest. But what really was exciting was the crop dusters were out in full force I tried to catch this on my camera but it was to hard to get a really good shot as they flew right over the top of the house.

If you look real close at the middle leafless tree you can see the plane coming this way. Sort of hard to see but that shows how low they fly.

And there he goes!

While my Brother and his family were away on vacation Mom and I made sure the cows and calves were taking care of by 2 great guys. My Brother should give the 2 of them a bonus for how well they did in his absence!

Lined up and ready to eat!

This little calf layed in the same spot every day I was there, it looked like she was watching Mom in her kitchen window. It is to bad the tulips were not blooming wouldn't that of been a great photo!



This feeding truck has been used twice a day for feeding corn silage (sp) ever since I can remember.


Walking around Mom's house is fun, I can remember this stuff from when I was a little girl and to be honst I don't think most of these items have moved from their spot weather it be on a self or in a cabinet.

Actually this little guy isn't that old, I sent it to Mom for Mothers day about 9 years ago. I just think he is so cute.



Now this Rooster is really old, as you can see the cracks in his tail. I think Mom use to have 2 but I only saw just the one sitting proudly in the kitchen.



Well Mom I will be glad to see you in May when we come up for Mothers Day weekend.

Life on the Farm!

Today is the first day of Spring!

I am so happy spring is here, I have so much going on in my life with the days getting longer I will be able to balance out my time better. Does anyone understand what I am trying to say? Lets see I was able to go to Portland to visit Casey and Holly, what a great time. We walked to wonderful places we had coffee and stop and shopped at vintage stores:) The weekend before Glenn and I took a day trip to the painted hills, WOW every time we go there I am amazed like it is the first time I have seen such a sight what a wonderful day trip that was. I am still working on the kitchen cupboards, Glenn has enticed me by buying a new faucet and dangling it in front of me. So here is the deal Glenn has told me when I am through with the cupboards he will put in a new sink and faucet. What a beautiful faucet I can't wait! At first I wanted a red cast iron sink, but that has changed after hours of conversation with my Husband we are getting a white cast iron sink. Also after hours on pondering the red sink I think it would be to much red in one spot, but boy wouldn't it be pretty.

I am leaving next week to spend some time with my Mother, just her and I, I wonder what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into??.. Maybe it will be something to blog about only time will tell.

A nice day in Central Oregon - Road Trip with POE!

It sure in nice when you live so close to the "open road"! In 1/2 of a day Glenn and I were able to go for a ride in POE, Glenn's 1974 MGB GT. The photos will tell you the whole story with out me having to explain a thing. ENJOY, this wonderful day just like we did, well almost as good:)

Now wasn't that a relaxing trip!

The sun is shining!

What a wonderful day to be off the sun is shining, still cold outside but the brightness is long over due. To catch you up on my kitchen project; I went into Sherman Williams they are so funny there, when I walk in it sort of reminds me of "cheers" they sure have fun greeting me. I think they like to see women come in because all I ever see is paint contractors and we all know what they look like. (if your a paint contractor don't take it personally) I had to get the pre-wood conditioner to see if that helps with the uneven-ness in the staining process of the wood. I am almost to the point where I will be staining cupboards that are eye level I think that will be the true test. But really it doesn't matter because there is no turning back at this point.

The cupboard on the far right looking at the photo is before and the cupboards to the left are after.

On a totally other subject, I watched the dvd Julie and Julia, WOW! lets say I watched it 3 times in 2 days what a great movie. Ever since I was a little girl Julia Childs annoyed me when I would watch her on TV. Well come to find out I just didn't "get her"! I now have a new found respect for her and I am sorry I judged her so quickly but again I was pretty little at the time. Virginia a very nice lady I work with let me borrow the 2 cook books that they were writing in the movie. I think it will be fun to sit down and look through them. From what I understand they are hard to follow one because they are a cookbook for cooking "French" and two they use different ingredients then we use today.

What great cook books, can't wait to read them.

Yesterday I took a big leap and had my hair cut to my shoulders, I think it looks "sassy", my husband thinks I look "cute". I am OK with that. My hair has been long for some time and when you have long hair it just gets to the point that you have to cut it off and start over so that is that.

As you can see in the back ground cupboards and drawers drying, me with new hair cut and no make-up, it is my day off!

Tonight Glenn and I are going to sit down and order our garden seeds from the Burpee Catalog, that will be fun and also a challenge we have to pick short growing time seeds, under 58 days ( I think) and that can be hard to do. But this year we want to shake things up a bit around our yard so I look forward blogging about it.

Valentines Day! What a great day, it isn't like a birthday or a holiday where you cook all day. It is just a loving day and I like that. Glenn was very good to me; I got a Aero Garden and a beautiful dinner out and a bunch of cards that were mailed to me from his work. I think there was only 2 days I didn't get a card in the mail that was a lot of fun and I miss them but I know someday I will receive a card in the mail again from the one I love! I made one of Glenn's presents; he wears printed shirts to work and he has a way of pulling off really any print, I think he likes to wear different prints because it can be an easy conversation piece. Boy when he wears this one he will have a lot of explaining to do about the print but it was fun to make and if he likes it I am sure the future will bring more his way.

Glenn's shirt!

The Aero Garden

Valentines Cards

Have a great day and thanks for listening to me ramble on today.

Betty

Things don't always turn out the way you want!

Well today was day 3 of my kitchen project, I had a little break down and decided I wasn't going to go through with this project. I got to the cupboards below the sink and I guess wood has "pores" and soaks up stain differently so on and so on...There were spots where the stain would not adhere to the wood at all no matter how much I put on the stain or how much I sanded it.

When Glenn called to see how I was doing I told him "I Quite and I wasn't going to be able to pull this off". Now we all know I wasn't really going to quite I just needed to vent and be a little mad. I am not even 1/4 of the way through so who knows how many times this type of behavior is going to happen. I was coached through the next few hours by my Husband, he is really good at that. You know it really isn't going to be as bad as I thought and it looks much better then the cupboards I haven't touched so on ward I go next week day 4 here I come!