The Life of Riley...

Time has come…

2011-08-17T22:36:00.001-05:00

To close out this blog and start anew. I have combined both my blogs into this blog. I tried wordpress and it was beyond me so I just did what I do best and worked with blogger.

Come here and see what you think and if you’re interested join me on my new journey, if not that’s fine too, it’s been fun having you along.

Healthy, Wealth and Wise: NOT...but learning

Take care my friends and have a blessed evening.

BWCA…

2011-08-17T14:00:00.001-05:00

If you’re not from the states or Canada you just may not know what the BWCA stands for so before I go and show you all of God’s beauty I’ll share a bit. Boundary Waters Canoe Area is what the letters stand for. It’s a place where there is no electricity, no potties (the flush kind), no amenities other then what you bring with you. IT’S GREAT!!! Anyone can live without for a bit and 9 days is easy. If you want to see a bit more about the BWCA go here and check it out.

We started our journey out at 4am Saturday morning. There was Bob (the other adult), Joe his son, Brett, Kyler, Mike and I. As you know I had been planning and packing for all of us and was happy the day finally had arrived. As we are getting the last of our stuff together, picking up Kyler in town Bob tells me they have to stop and buy some tents. TENTS!!! He forgot to pack them. Oh well there’s outfitters and other places along the way to stop. We got two of them at Wal-mart (not a wise decision) to cheap if you ask me beings we are going where we are for as long as we were (they found that out the first night when it rained). Anyways, we also picked up bowls since other then the packers no one else remember eating utensils and equipment. Still not a big deal, paper did make clean up a bit easier. Finally we are in Ely, we got there before anything opened, so had time to just gather our thoughts and me to teach a little bit about what’s next. We got our permits at 8am, listened to all the information needed to enter the canoe area and after stopping for a quick bite to eat were on our way by 9. The Echo Trail leads us to our entry point 14, The Little Indian Sioux River. If you have never portaged or even wondered what that is, well lets say it’s the hardest part of the job. Getting your gear and canoes from one point to another. It’s hard, especially when everything hasn’t been eaten yet. We had 10 packs, misc gear and 3 canoes plus us. Our first portage was hard. It was all down hill, rocky and 1/3 of a mile. We made it and were on the water by 10:45. Once we were loaded we headed out for the most wonderful vacation of the year. We paddled and paddled and portaged and portaged and one more portage, and paddled some more. We made it to Lower Pauness Lake and found out the boys and Bob do not want to go any further and we will be base camping. Not quite what I had planned but I can do whatever makes them happy. So we set up camp and had the time of our lives. We hiked 30 miles in those 9 days, paddled an additional 25 miles and did a few more portages but just for day trips of fishing, swimming and exploring. They told us when we left it hadn’t rain up there in weeks so it was really dry so be sure to put a water ring around out camp fires and to just be careful. Well since this has been the year for rain in Aitkin/Crosby we must of brought it up with us because it rained. It rained 2 full days and 5 of the 8 nights. Of course it didn’t make a big difference to us other then we got plenty of sleep because it would start to drizzle about 9ish so we’d be in the tents and it’s quit about 6ish so I’d be out on my sunning rock at 7:30. I had a rock, about 100’ away from my tent that I would go out to in the morning and relax, pray, get dress and be ready for a day with the guys. It was amazing up there and so beautiful and so much more. Plenty of time for soul searching, figuring a few things out and also making myself more confused on other issues. Life’s not simple here in the Riley household but we’ll make it.

Now I bet you’re tired of reading and ready for some pictures. Beware, there are lots of them. Just enjoy.

The view from across our camp.

5 loons that came to play and Kyler fishing.

Joe fishing and part of the Sioux River Tower Lookout.

More lookout and a grouping of rocks where we think one of the supports were for the old fire tower.

More lookout.

Us at the lookout and see the beautiful day?

An insulator that holds the telegraph wire. The view from the other end of the lake.

The beautiful moon and it’s reflection.

Brett, Kyler and Joe out walking. Bob my partner in crime.

The morning view from my tent. Kyler and Mike.

Kyler and I waiting for Mike and our friend Chippy we shouldn’t of fed but she kept asking.

The opening to Devil’s Cascades.

The bears den we found along with it’s lookout over our campsite. Ours is the further light spot in the first picture here.

It was a 20 foot drop and jump to this rock. I spent more time gasping then breathing I think.

Devil’s Cascade opening and then the following pictures are it.

One of our portages and the trail. Now really this one is an easy portage. Most of them are just paths worn down from walking, most don’t have a path built in like this.

Hanging our food so it stays ours, not the bears or other critters.

Joe and Brett.

Me. Kyler and Joe with a northern they caught.

Mike in thought.

Must play. I loved the giggles and laughing the boys did.

All of us.

A fire starter Mike put together for when it rained. It worked excellent!

More views from my tent.

So there is just a few highlights of our trip. It was awesome and I’d pack and go in a short minute if I could.

I wish you all a great week. Starting next week (I’m hoping), I will have a new blog set up. I want to put the two of my blogs together in one place. I’m going to try wordpress but not to sure about it yet, if not I’ll just redesign this one to fit better. Take care my friends and have an awesome rest of the week.

Been awhile but so much to share….Pt.1….

2011-08-14T22:22:00.001-05:00

Our first biggest adventure was our End of Summer party. Beings Alex and Ron will be heading back home for the school year and I had my adventures in the Boundary Water Canoe Area and then Rachel and Abby have their family vacation we had our party a few weeks early. We went to Serpent Lake Park and beach and spent the day playing, swimming, eating and lots more playing. Mike played with the kids like a big brother and the kids had a blast.

Mike knows that sunsets are my most favorite thing. He’s always taking pictures for me. This one was just after a thunderstorm.

And final for this post, when Michele came to visit us she brought us Monarch caterpillars. Just as we were heading to our camping trip they were starting to emerge from their cocoons so Rachel and Abby took them home with them. I’m anxious to see what pictures they took before they headed on their family vacation.

So for now this is what’s been happening. Part two will be coming up in the next day or two, our BWCA trip and I think a combination of two blogs. More to come.

Take care my friends and have a blessed and awesome week.

See what I’m doing…and…

2011-07-31T21:50:00.001-05:00

Our trip is in 6 days. Time to start packing. Groceries are all bought, then packaged into meals, days and into the bear pack. Took me about 3 hours from start to finish. The counter is only 1/3 of what I had to take apart and repackage but I did and it’s all in the 2 barrels and bag. The other bags are the cook kits and supplies and the little bag is paper supplies and drinks. The bear pack is 57 lbs, the medium is 44 lbs and the smallest 37 lbs. Today I packed our bedding and tent (came in at 34 lbs) and worked up our clothing list. Getting there.

In-between getting ready for our trip we’ve been busy as a daycare. Our neighbors are off and running to tour the USA so we are taking care of their cabin and land. To make it look like busy and active the kids and I have been having picnic’s and playing there.

What happens when you have “help” with the laundry? I had the whites already to go and when we got back from one of our picnic’s someone added a beautiful red table cloth to the hot soapy water and shut the lid on the washer. Even after trying to bleach the whites for 3 extra loads we still have pink socks and undies. Oh well, at least they aren’t bright pink anymore.

My green beans are ready to be picked so that is on the agenda tomorrow. My grandma is alone tomorrow so we’ll be spending part of the morning and then late afternoon there. It’s time to mow but think we’ll hold off another day or two so that it’s not knee high by time we get back from the BWCA. My house has exploded. We need a group meeting and I have 6 kids most day plus I am studying for my bus exam and on Friday would like to take the test so all this means another busy week in paradise. Would I change anything, nope (well maybe I could make a little more money and that worry wouldn’t be there but life’s not perfect just great).

And the best update…….

Scout and Wilbur seem to be feeling just fine. We were really worried on Friday and most of Saturday because Scout was very down and tired and not eating but by evening she was her old puppy self driving Wilbur nuts. I read about the medicine, she can have a reaction to it that makes her sick so we think that’s what it was. The bad part about it is I have one more dose to give her in 3 weeks so another sick couple of days or just maybe she’ll be fine with the third dose. However we are so happy and blessed and hope that this too will be over with and she’ll grow up to be the best protector and best friend for Mike.

Have a blessed week my friends. I will try and get back here before we head out but if not I will be back after the 13th with pictures and tales of fun in the sun and friendship and so much more. Jim will be home to take care of the animals, garden and plants and also some quietness and relaxing.

Puppy disease, Canine parvovirus…

2011-07-27T12:54:00.001-05:00

Scout had been exposed, one of her sister has died, the other one got it but survived.

Terri and Scouts two sisters

Scared would be an understatement for Mike right now. She is his heartthrob, she is his life, he loves her so much. I know to some she’s “just a dog” but to Mike, to us, she’s a huge part of our family so would you please, in your prayers today say a prayer for her and Mike.

We took a big chunk of our BWCA trip money and got her to the vet today and got her the 2nd series of shots ( we are 25 days behind so are hoping that she was still covered ) and the vet said she looks good but this is just day 5 of the 10 day incubation period so it’s hard to tell. She, the vet, told us what to look for so we’ll be on the look out the next few days. We are not looking at the glass half empty, she will be fine but there’s still the worry. I also took Wilbur because he was exposed X2 this weekend when the puppies came to visit so just to make sure, even though it’s a puppy disease adult dogs can get it but rarely, we got him his shot too.

I think our family has had enough stress this summer. We don’t/can’t handle a whole bunch more.

I hope that your day is going grand and that life is treating you with respect, love and lots of blessings. Take care my friends and thank you for your prayers.

Wordless Wednesday….

2011-07-27T01:00:00.000-05:00

My friend, my fishing buddy, my companion, my shadow, my protector, my walking buddy, my ….. FRIEND!!!

Have a blessed day!!

Big changes ahead…

2011-07-22T15:32:00.001-05:00

First I’ll share a few things the kids and I have been doing.

We made record bowls. It’s such an easy and cheap and useful project and the kids love it. I do the oven part and then they press the inner bowls to shape, let cool and paint. We made 6 of them and I let the kids take theirs home and I have three for our up-coming craft show.

The when Michele was here she brought us some caterpillars that will be changing into Monarch butterflies. Rachel wanted to hold one while I gave them fresh milkweed. She said it tickles!

I took the kids swimming yesterday while Mike filled out employment applications. We had a blast and this was the first time I had taken Joss to the lake.

And Mike and I went to scout camp Wednesday evening. For all the years we’ve been in scouts I have either gone up on Wednesday (up, over, down…where ever they are) and stayed the rest of the week or at least gone up to bring treats, ice and see if anyone needs anything, help with homework and also attend church with the boys. This year beings I’m going to the BWCA for 9 days I couldn’t afford both scout camp and that so I just went up to Crosslake and spent the evening with the boys.

Now for my big change…or add to that is…

You all know daycare hasn’t been the most profitable this past year. Thinks have changed, people have moved on and my numbers have shrunk so in order for me to keep doing daycare, because you also know that this is my life, I love kids so much and don’t want to do something different, I have found a solution, I am hoping.

Meet Julie (that’s me), one of Aitkin County’s activity bus driver.

Now it’s just a very part time because I’m still doing daycare and that will limited me some on a few of the games and activities but when I talked to the bus garage they were thrilled. You see, the manager of the bus garage has known me since my early teens. He’s known me through driving truck, working at the nursing home and now daycare. I see him at least yearly when they make their first few runs of the year and I talk to him yearly because each year my numbers and kids change for the bus pickup/drop offs. All drivers in our district start off as activity drivers. It’s a chance to get a feel of the job without the rush of a timed schedule. Now to do this I already posses a commercial’s driver license so I don’t have to do that I need though to get the endorsements for bus driving and safety and then do some practice driving with their instructor. I think there’s a drivers test too with the bus but wasn’t clear about that. I don’t think I’ll have any problems with any of the driving, now the written test…I’m not good at test, they make me sick really but I will start studying this weekend and hopefully feel able to take the written test next Friday. Oh I have to get a DOT physical too and pay for a background check, about $100.00 above and beyond what I don’t already have but we’ll figure that out in due time.

Because I’ve been scared out of my mind I wasn’t going to share this quite yet but you guys have always supported me, prayed for me and my family I’m once again asking for your support and prayers and courage to step out of my comfortable box and add something really new.

It’s the weekend, a quiet relaxing one I think. Well there’s garage saling tomorrow and then in the afternoon our friends are coming over to spend some much needed friend time. Mike is going to be hosting a shoot and I am going to go for a leisure walk with Terri and some chat time. Shopping on Sunday and maybe fishing if Jim has the time. And the most important, study time.

Take care my friends and have a blessed and awesome weekend.

Aitkin County Fair and daycare and more….

2011-07-18T08:44:00.000-05:00

I took my wee ones to the fair last week. We had a great time checking out all the goodies the fair has to offer. I didn’t do rides with them, I leave that up to the parents.

However we saw these and these and more…

And then we went to the Jaques Art Center building and the kids got to play dress up and put on a short play for me. They had more of a blast doing that, I think, then anything else at the fair. See….

Daycare keeps me busy and so full of love. These kids are my life and boy do I enjoy them so.

Our newest little ones are getting into our little farm life. It is fun watching them learn and grow.

On one of our outings they picked me these. They are still doing well on my kitchen table.

Mike and I took daddy to Music in the Park Thursday, however with the rain and cold (so unlike today at 90* and heat index of 99*) it was cancelled so we took daddy for a hike and look out point. I love, so very much love the picture of daddy and Mike.

Arts and craft time. We painted key chains and paper on a rainy afternoon.

So as always it’s busy here, not as busy as some times with my numbers a bit lower then usual but still busy and happy. This week I am sure will hold some more inside play, we are in a heat advisory for the next couple of days so safer in then out.

I hope you all have a great week. We’re planning on it. Take care and God Bless!!

A meeting of the blogging minds….

2011-07-17T19:51:00.001-05:00

I have to be honest because well you know that it’s me, I don’t ever pretend to be someone or something I’m not and I have to tell you I was terrible nervous to meet Michele. You never know what someone will think of you. You never know if it’ll be a difficult meeting. You never know if they’ll come to your humble home and want to escape but…. the minute Michele was at my door I knew there was nothing at all that I had to worry about. She is the sweetest, nicest, most pleasant person to be with and she was very easy to talk to. I am more of a writer, I’m not that much of a talker but I think it took me about 5 hours before I stopped talking. We didn’t run out of things to say, things to look at, things to do. It was a great visit. Michele brought with her the most amazing lunch for me to try. We had a lettuce salad but not lettuce that I normal have, beets, carrots, grapes, and some very good raspberry dressing, and then some pita bread and turkey too. It was a great lunch and so much fun eating things differently then I do here. For one of our activities I took Michele canoeing. She wanted to learn how to paddle, sit comfortable, and tip and not be afraid. Plus I taught her a couple other things like paddling when the canoe is full of water and also how to get into one. Now that was the hardest part of the day but she did it and she did it well. Mike came out with us too, just to make sure we were okay and also to help empty the canoe so we could do it all over again. Take a peek…

Oh I have to tell you, when Michele first got here she wanted a tour of my place so that was what we did and then I took her for a walk. Michele is from the cities and though she gets out plenty and has lots of pastures and meadows they are not quite the same as I have to offer up here. She had such a great time teaching me what the name of this and that butterfly was, this and that tree and those flowers or them flowers. It was so cool to learn some of these things that I just called by their generic names. She also taught me the name of the flower that Mike is most allergic too. Blue Vervain. It looks like this…

It’s a beautiful flower but not something Mike can go near without having big problems.

When we finished our walk, lunch and canoeing l took Michele for a ride to see more of our countryside. I took her to Cuyuna Country State Recreational area lookout and this is what she saw…

Then here on one of the many mountain biking trails.…

Then it was out to dinner at Coaches Corners. Brenda. my best friend, meet us there and we enjoyed more chatting.

It was a great visit, something I hope to repeat many more times in the years to come.

Thank you Michele for such a great visit.

I hope you all had a great weekend. I was so glad our heat wave waited until today to show up but my Lord is it horrible out there. The temps were 89* today with a heat index of 98*. And it rained again to bring that humidity up even more. It’ll be this way for another few days they are saying. My scouts are at camp this week, I’m feeling sorry for them. I am going up on Wednesday with treats, ice and a visit. Mike is going up tomorrow for Climb On Safely. It’s a BSA training course for teaching safe climbing. Mike loves to climb and lots of the scouts are wanting to also so Kevin our Scout Master and Mike are taking the class. I hope that they will be okay out in the heat.

Take care my friends and have an awesome week. Blessings to you all.

Busy but fun…

2011-07-09T23:12:00.001-05:00

First my favorite photo of the week. These are my guineas that followed me to my dad’s house to get their nightly treat of bread. Daddy puts out bread for all his feathered friends but mine come right up the steps to the house door wanting their goodness.

Found this today. The first tomato. YEAH!!! Soon the beans will be ready to pick, the kohlrabi too. The cukes have blossoms, the peppers did too. The corn is more then knee high so the garden is doing wonderfully.

I took the kids mini golfing this week. It was so much fun and I love our little mini golf course.

Then we went swimming at Section 6. It’s a mine pit lake and so much fun with the rope swing. As you can see no matter your age a life vest is a must.

We celebrated Aiden 7th birthday also. We had a blast and Aiden loved his flashlights so that him and his grandpa can go camping some more.

We had a scavenger hunt (really three of them). They loved having to go out and find different things.

What happens when you go mudding with your best buddy. It gets stuck and throws a chain so you use your lawn mover to haul it home so you can go out and do it again.

And last but not least….

LOVE IS GRAND!!!!

Take care and have a blessed weekend.

Wow, what a weekend…

2011-07-05T14:14:00.001-05:00

You want to talk about busy. You want to talk about fun. How about you want to talk about a great family and many wonderful friends. That is what my weekend was.

We celebrated our 15th family reunion with a party for my mama and daddy’s 50th wedding anniversary. It turned out so great. It was mostly a surprise, I did share with mama a bit ahead and I told daddy the day of. But it was fantastic and the love, cards, sweet comments in the guest book, WOW!!! Here are the pictures to go with out great day.

Here’s the pre-party spread. Nothing on the back tables yet, it’s coming.

Mama always has a program with poems and music and some funnies and then of course I got to say something about the surprise.

Daddy waiting for the cue for the music.

These kids start out so little when the games begun. We use to not have any that were competitive because there would be hurt feelings if someone won so we always made them team games and not a win/lose kind. It was fun this year, we played games that were modified from the game show Minute to Win It. It was so much fun.

And the best, mama and daddy cutting their cake. 50 years guys, that’s a very long time to put up with your partners mistakes and quirks but the most important part, all of their love.

Here is the picture of their wedding picture and now. The cutest couple I know and the cutest couple of love to death.

Well it’s a new week and I am sure I will have plenty more to share as the week goes by. Take care my friends and have a great one. God Bless you all!!

Great afternoon….

2011-07-02T21:06:00.001-05:00

Well really it was a great Saturday. I got the house work done before 9 and that included all the laundry. Daddy and I went garage saling and I though we looked and looked the only thing I found I had to bring home was this. It’s dated 1935.

I’ll use it for teaching the kids a bit of this and that plus I love reading the old teaching styles.

Then Jim took me out for a pizza. We came home and had a wonderful 2 hour nap. If felt so good.

Then came the real fun. Mike and I went geo-caching. You know how we also have a blast. Mike and I sign the log books M&M Riley (Mike and Mom) and when we exchange treasures this is what we leave.

These came on a set of Christmas lights and we’ve used up 45 of them now. We are running low so if anyone has these Christmas lights that don’t work any more and want to get rid of the little guys I’ll gladly pay postage if you’d sent them to me.

Mike and I found 5 out of the 6 caches today. Here’s a couple pictures to show you a few things.

We had a great time.

Here’s what our map looks like now. The X’s are what we’ve found.

So that was my day. A great one. Now tomorrow is shopping for next week, mowing the yard for the family reunion and then starting the set up and all for the 4th. It’ll be busy but with a day like today it gave us a chance to relax and enjoy and be ready for it all.

I hope you all have a great weekend and for all of us in the USA, Happy Independence day. Take care and God Bless!!

Mama had a baby and ……

2011-06-30T19:43:00.001-05:00

It’s head popped off….

And it’s hands got chewed off too…

And who would do such a thing?

We left the dogs in today, it was 90* and very humid so I didn’t take them with us when we went to town. I just had three kids today, Abby, Rachel and Anton so we decided to make it a play day in town. We went here….

And saw…

And lots more. We had a guide of sorts that answered all of the kids question and would show them things they missed in some displays. The kids learned and had a blast being there.

Then we walked up town….

And went birthday shopping for our friend in New York. Got her a few very neat and wonderful things.

Then we went bowling. Our local bowling alley has a summer special, Monday-Friday 11-3 you can bowl for .50 cents. Now that is something even this daycare mama can afford to do. We played one game and had lunch (a treat from Rachel and Abby’s mama).

By time we finished all of this it was getting close to 4 and time to head home for a snack and leaving time. The kids had time to play in the water and cool off and have some ice-cream.

All in all it was a wonderful, but very busy day.

Tomorrow I have three again, a different young man. I think if it’s not storming, like they are saying might happen, we’ll head to the beach in Deerwood and then have a picnic. Next week it’s back to a full house each day so we’ll do games and stuff here. I do try to change things up and take a different bunch here or there so just depending on how many we do lots of different things. This Saturday I just have a family of three and think we’ll go and do something too. Maybe garage saling with Grandpa. We’ll just see what that day brings when it happens.

So there you have it, a day in The Life of Riley. Pretty darn good if you ask me. Something I really want to continue doing for many years to come. I can keep hoping and praying and see where the good Lord leads me.

Take care my friends and I’ll chitter chatter with you another day. Blessings to you all!!

Almost wordless Wednesday…

2011-06-29T12:42:00.001-05:00

My new boyfriend. He lost his mate last year and has decided I am a good replacement though I hate the worms he offers me and he hates the flowers I give him.

But he loves me no matter what I look like and in this picture YUCK!!!

His other girlfriend, my mama.

Take care and God Bless!!!

Oh the fun…

2011-06-28T13:49:00.001-05:00

Well since there is just no time in my life right now for crafting I have other goodies to show you. Let’s see where do I start? Well let’s go here:

This new little guy is only 3 days old and is already feeling the love. Mark has about 10 babies he’s still feeding and the kids get to feed them when we go over to visit.

Then there’s this:

Mike was home yesterday and took out his potato gun and while the kids and I either sat on the porch or were behind the fence he shot potatoes up the driveway. Until he broke his toy. He has to fix it.

Then Mike built his cannon, you saw that on one of my other post but I didn’t show you what it looked like. So here it is.

The blackened part is where the fuse goes.

Mike took his toy to see grandpa (my daddy) and it was like watching two little boys with new toys. Grandpa had this huge smile on his face and Mike was able to puff up proud because his grandfather was impressed.

I took some venture crew Geo-caching this past weekend. We had a blast.

We had a bet that our group could find more caches in 3 hours then the other group. We found 9 out of 11 we tried for and they found 8. So they treated us to a small blizzard treat at the DQ.

I got to go fishing. I caught 3 sunfish and 2 crappies. Enough for a fresh meal. YUMMY!!!

Rachel made me this little pillow. She embroidered it by herself and then her great grandma Robinson made it into a pillow. I was so impressed with Rachel’s needle work. It’s beautiful!!

And last but not least, our sunset last night. Mike took a panoramic picture and it turned out gorgeous.

So now it’s time to clean up the kitchen and the get snack ready so we can head back outside again. We’ve played kick ball, went bike riding and then had a picnic with grilled hot dogs for lunch today. It’s finally sunshine and happiness outside and we are out there sucking it all up.

Take care my friends and have a blessed afternoon.

Community Walk….

2011-06-23T22:34:00.001-05:00

Tonight I walked in a community walk. We have a new loop to our walking trails and our trails are working on meeting other trails and one day Minnesota will have a walking/hiking/biking trail that leads just about everywhere you’d like to go.

I had a great time, one of my daycare families joined me so we walked together. Rachel, Abby and their mama, Becky.

For the first time in at least 6 days it wasn’t raining and chilly. It finally warmed up and the sun came out.

Ready, set, GO!!!

There were about 150 participants and a few of them had their pups walking with them too. Wilbur is wonderful on the leash, Scout….well she’ll learn.

All done. The walk was about 2.5 miles. It took us about 40 minutes but I’m not exactly sure because I forgot to use my itouch and tracker.

I always have my own personal cheering section. Mike came and cheered us on and took pictures for us. And the ones in the middle of the race I just used my cell phone.

All in all it was a great community event and I am so glad I went.

If your community has anything like this happening, give it a try…you’ll be glad you did!!!

Take care my friends and have a blessed night sleep.

The first day of summer…and…

2011-06-21T21:42:00.001-05:00

In mid-northern Minnesota that is. Not the warmest weather we’ve ever had but sure is saving on the electric bill with no air conditioning.

The flowers aren’t minding the cooler weather but my garden isn’t doing the greatest. The pine trees are loving it though, look at all that new growth.

We have been busy as a family, daycare, scouts and more. I don’t get pictures for everything we do but I have some. Like these…

We finally got to go fishing. Really I got to go fishing, both my guys don’t fish but they took me. I caught one bass so not a great catch but two hours out on the water, it was amazing.

As you can see we’ve been doing all kinds of good things in daycare. The kids pictures we turned into buttons for the daddy’s for Father’s day. I had a picture of the buttons but lost it some where's.

On Saturday Mike and I took CPR and First Aid with our Venture crew. We do it every two years for daycare and scouts.

And one final goody. Mike built a cannon. Just a table top on but it turned out so cool and awesome and his welding skills sure show themselves here. Check this video out. Sorry for the sunline on it but at least we had sun for a bit.

So there you have it. What’s happening here at the Life of Riley’s. I wish you all a blessed rest of this week. Take care my friends.

Silent Monks Singing Halleluia

2011-06-18T19:51:00.000-05:00

You'll love this!!!

I hope you have a great weekend. God Bless!!

A must read…my devotional today…

2011-06-17T13:42:00.001-05:00

CAN YOU RELATE?
I drive into work listening to gospel music or a pre-recorded sermon on the
radio. I get out of the car and walk to the building entrance.
As I open the building door I leave just enough room for me to get in and I
leave Jesus standing outside as the door closes behind me. He's standing
with His palms on the door glass and watches me as I get on the elevator.
His eyes are sad and He turns and goes to sit on the stone bench. There
He'll sit patiently and wait for me for the next 9 hours.
First two hours of work - I fuss and complain about things not going right.
Jesus, sitting with his chin in His hand looks upward toward the building
wishing He could help me.
By lunch time - I'm flustered, regretting I work in this place and
sputtering bitterness all over folks.
Jesus comes around to the side of the building where my cubicle is located.
He looks up from the ground trying to get my attention but I can't hear him;
my focus is on my problems.
Jesus goes back to the front of the building, sits down and continues to
wait for me. He thinks to Himself as He looks up to the third floor, "She
went in there defenseless. If only she had taken me in there with her. When
will she learn?"
End of the day - I'm pooped, run down, no energy, irritable & frustrated. I
leave the building & Jesus gets up happily to greet me but I'm in no mood
for Him now. I've just been to hell and back and the last thing I want to do
is be bothered with anyone.
God just actually showed me this is how I'VE been acting. He showed me each
act and worst of all, He let Me feel a small portion of how grieved he was
because of my actions and attitude. I left Jesus standing outside, almost
let the door smack him in His face.
From time to time our jobs overwhelm us and we completely forget to "take
Jesus with us". We may not go around cursing anyone out or punching anyone
in the face (hopefully not) but what are our actions saying about us and
about who or whose we are?
We are the salt of the Earth and the light of the world. A city on a hill
cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the
house. Matt. 5:13-15.
We should be bringing peace to our jobs and not be the cause of confusion.
We should be the ones to bring our gifts & talents to the table to help in
WHATEVER area God has chosen for us to work in.
Col.3:23-24-"Whatever you do, work at it with ALL your heart, as working for
the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance
from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

Think material……….especially with all that’s been happening this week. It is amazing how the Lord leads when we get lost.

Take care my friends and have a blessed afternoon.

Update…sorta…and…

2011-06-16T13:16:00.001-05:00

First, just to update you a tiny bit about yesterdays dilemma.

Mike did resign at work. He will be finished the 2nd of July. Money wise he is okay through July so can take care of rent, insurance and gas. So he will have time to find his next job. It was a stressful afternoon for him telling his grandfather his plans (who instead of taking it wisely was a smart a** about it but that was his choice). Jim took time to absorb and after much talking last night will sit back and just watch and advise when asked but will not be judging. He was happy to know that when the time comes, if the time comes, that him and Mike can still work together.

As for my daycare, I still don’t know. I really don’t want to go anywhere’s but Jim and I did talk about different ideas and will keep talking and praying about it and see what life brings.

So there it is. The Life of Riley. Not easy but life isn’t suppose to be. It’s suppose to be full of challenges so that we learn to lean on others, to lean on the Lord instead of thinking we can do it all alone. We can’t, we don’t have to, we don’t need too. I want to thank you all for your advice yesterday. Each one of you had a point and was talked about and thought about and will be thought about for some time to come. THANK YOU!!!

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Now back to the normal stuff….

Mike and I went geo-caching Monday. We also hiked a part of the Cuyuna trails. This is the Croft Mine. They have tours and mining information on the weekends. It’s been awhile since we’ve gone so I think the next time I have the daycare kids on a Saturday we’ll head over for a learning day.

I have a new boyfriend. My daddy’s goose lost it’s mate last year and he is so lonesome. Well with-in the last few months he has became very attached to me. Yesterday he followed me home from one of my walks over to visit and then followed us all over. We walked to the mailbox and got the mail.

I had to put air in Justin’s bike tire and the goose would of held the hose if he could of.

I headed out to till the garden and of course have my helpers with and the goose walked all over around the fence.

And last but not least. I took my daddy to music in the park. It was cold but that didn’t stop the music. My daddy loved it and so did many others.

So no matter the struggles, trials and tribulations a person, family go through there is still so much to be thankful for and I need to remember that at times. I truly am very blessed to have the life I do. Thank you God for everything.

Now take care my friends and have a blessed and awesome afternoon.

So it’s time for help…any kind…

2011-06-15T09:53:00.001-05:00

Words, prayers, thoughts, ideas….anything cuz you see right now our life is in a turmoil in a couple different directions and even though I know the Lord has plans I am sure he’s not wanting me to just sit on my butt and do nothing about it so I’m going to type it out here and just see what happens.

There are two things happening in our lives right now that need advisement on. First Mike hates working for his grandfather and dad. Working in a family business is hard for all. It’s not just the younger one being younger and not having everything it takes to be the best employee. It’s not just the older one expecting that because the son can do it the grandson can too. And it’s not the middle man, the father/son trying to keep peace and teach his son the steps needed to learn a business and trying to keep a father that’s getting older, forgetful and angry that everyone has to start some where’s. It’s hard from them all and since the youngest is my son and seeing him in such turmoil it’s just hard not trying to make it all better. I however do not get involved with the family business. I am not part of that, haven’t been asked to be and don’t care to be right now. 3 generations and all male…no thank you. I don’t understand why the grandfather can’t be happy one of his grandchildren want to be near him, work for him. I can’t understand the father not sticking up for his son when he sees the verbal abuse the grandson gets. I can’t understand the grandson just not keeping his mouth shut and trying to learn. I can only look at this as an outsider really. I’m the wife, mama, daughter-in-law but I can’t fix this and I can’t make them all happy. It’s hard to see the discontentment. Mike has decided to quit and find something else but you and I know there isn’t much out there to be had plus it’s going to hurt his dad’s feelings because I know in the long run Jim wanted Mike to be his partner in the business when Cecil is gone. IT’S HARD for everyone but it hurts the mama to see all this anguish every day.

And………

I think I have come at a cross roads in my business too. I LOVE DAYCARE!!!! I LOVE IT!!! But I can’t handle the drama of not knowing if I can make it anymore. I can’t imagine being without my kids but the families I have are having issues and are not coming or supporting me like they should if they want me to stay here. Now I understand your own family comes first. I know that and when someone’s not working you keep your kid/kids home. I know that everyone needs time off to do those things that make you happy. I UNDERSTAND these things. But when you know that the person that takes care of your kids makes a living by taking care of your kids then where’s the respect? How am I to make a living (cuz I live one paycheck to the next, the same as them)? It’s hard, I don’t want to quit this, I’ve been taking care of the same kids since they were born. They are part of me too. But what am I to do? Is it time to look for something else and say good bye? Or do I hold my breath and hope that things work out. I’ve been doing that for a very long time. Do I want to call the school and bus garage and apply? Are they hiring with all the other unemployed people? Do I fill out the applications but know in my heart that if I could just get a family that would be here all the time without the drama, the worries of quitting that I’d not take the job? I WANT TO KEEP MY KIDS, I WANT TO KEEP MY DAYCARE!!! I just can’t do it moneywise.

So there, it’s out there and I need advice. It’s not as easy as just quitting and moving on. It’s not as easy as staying put and hoping things work out. I just don’t know.

I didn’t plan on this post, but when I’ve needed help you’ve had some great ideas, wonderful prayer support and moral support. I’m just a bit lost today.

If you read this twice cuz I’m posting it on both my blogs I’m sorry. I just needed to share. I’m feeling a bit down and alone and even though I have family and friend support I think I’m hoping that someone else is going through or been there, done that and might have an idea or two. If nothing else please pray that I can except the Lords will and figure out what that is and go with the flow.

Thanks for reading, thanks for all your support. Blessings to you all!!

Swimming…and more of course…

2011-06-09T08:27:00.001-05:00

We went swimming on Tuesday, that was before it got cold again. We had two days of 90* weather which for me was perfect, I like the warmer weather. Yesterday and today, well that’s another story. It’s only 40* this morning, BURR!!!

Anyways, we went, Rachel, Abby and Hannah and while we were there my little Anton came too. We met Kim and her kids and had a great time. Anton found a baby turtle and would of so love to of keep him but I told him he had to let him go. Rachel is a rock nut and is always collecting and bringing home. Gab and Abby spent a good chunk of time just playing on the shore. Fun was had by all. Kim and I got to visit and just enjoy sitting and not household stuff.

As were were finishing up lunch a lone seagull came to visit so I fed him all the left over's and it was so cool to see him come within 5’ of us. It reminded me of the time I took Rachel and Abby to Duluth with the boys and we fed the seagulls up there. They would fly over head and eat out of your hands if you held the bread pieces high enough.

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Last night daddy and I went for a walk after my run and we found this little guy on the ground. You always feel sorry for baby birds so daddy went and dug him up a worm and fed him. I’m not sure if he’ll make it since it was so cold but it wasn’t because we didn’t try.

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We have had some much rain that any low lying area are filled with water. Well our best friends down the road have been talking about Lake Wysocki and how they were going to stock it and everything so after our visit this past weekend we stopped on the way home to “fish”. Just a bit of a funny because really when it gets nice and quits raining it’ll run back into pasture.

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Minus the brush/burn pile this is what my back yard looks like. We slide down this hill in the winter and in the summer take the bikes and wagon down it. We also play kick ball, put the sprinklers up and just run around. Lots of play room and lots of mowing. This really is just a portion of our yard but the most open.

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The onion. That is what Jim and Mike called this new water tower they are building in Ironton. I wish I had gotten pictures while it was still in 3 pieces on the ground but I didn’t but it’s fun watching them build it none the less. We climbed boy scout mountain to get a view directly across from it.

And that my friends is all I have to share for today. It’s time for toast, fruit, yogurt and milk for breakfast and then some outside time. Wish it would warm up but we’ll just see. Today could just be a craft day too. We haven’t painted in a while and one of my daycare mama’s bought a cool church craft book that has a couple really cute ideas in it. I’ll share, of course, what we make.

Take care my friends. I hope that you are all doing well. Blessings to you all!!

Wordless Wednesday….Truly wordless for me!

2011-06-08T16:44:00.001-05:00

Blessings my friends!!

34:08 …..10:10 less then 2 weeks ago…PLUS MORE!!

2011-06-07T21:37:00.001-05:00

That is what happened at my 5K on Saturday. I am very proud of myself. I fretted, worried and scared myself all week long because I was sure I had set myself up for failure when in the end I proved to myself that I can do it and I can do it better then I thought. I pushed myself and did exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to be faster then 2 weeks ago and I wanted to jog 80% of the race. I jogged a full two miles and then had to slow down and walk some and then I finished with running. I felt awesome.

My best supporter, my Mike. He took the day off again, for me, and was there from beginning to end. Even came to the half way point to cheer me on and take my picture.

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We had our end of school year and birthday party. Anton, Jon both turned 7 and Hannah turned 3. We had a great time and the weather was perfect.

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This was my helper making cupcakes for the party. She is such a doll and loves the days where it’s just her and I.

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Family game night. At least once a month or more we get together with grandma and grandpa (my mama and daddy) and my nephew and Mike and I. We played croquet and then daddy and I went fishing. Finally I got to go fishing, I caught two bass and 2 sunnies. YEAH!!!

Our Lady Slippers. They are so beautiful!!!

I know it was a long time off but it’s just been so busy here. I have more to share but will wait for another post later this week. It’s getting close to bed time and I haven’t had a chance to read my blogs so gotta try and catch up some.

Take care my friends and thank you for hanging in there for me. Have a blessed and awesome night.

So how did it work for you? and more….

2011-05-30T20:41:00.001-05:00

If you did my challenge with me can you leave a comment and tell me how you did, please? I’m just curious and felt honored you joined me. I also have something for you, if you’ll leave me your e-mail address.

I rode 22 days out of 31. Logged in 57 miles, I didn’t try for any certain distant just getting on the bike. I am still going to keep riding and just take the doctors advice and just go for joy rides, nothing hard.

I wanted to show you something. In my life for the past 16 months I have been working on losing some weight. I have lost 55 lbs with just another 10 or so to go. I haven’t done anything other then eat less and move more. It’s hard, it’s a challenge but it’s so been worth all the work. If you’d like to follow my journey check out my life style change blog.

Mike and I went hiking Friday evening. It was gorgeous out there and we just needed some time to unwind from the week.

Now……

I am going to take this week off from blogging and just try and get some other things done. I am so far behind on taking care of business here that I’ve got to do that. I will read a bit here and there but with so much that needs to be done before school is out for the summer I better spend this week concentrating on that. I will be back on Saturday, after my 5K walk/run.

Take care my friends and have a blessed week.

This week….

2011-05-27T17:28:00.001-05:00

Has been busy but here it always is in one way or another. The kids and I have been busy doing what we do best, playing and learning.

One of our biggest events was Justin graduating from Preschool. It was such an honor being invited to watch Justin graduate. He has come so far this year. I am very proud of him.

Another big thing in these little lives. Jon, Justin and Hannah have never had a wiener roast. So Mike taught them how to roast wieners and we had a picnic.

We got our boat ready this week and while it was sitting by the garage we had to play in it.

We transplanted, for the 3rd time, the tomatoes and peppers. This should be the last planting because after next week it’s time to plant the garden, that is if it warms up. This morning when I got up it was 30* and quite chilly out there.

Jim and I got the boat launched. It was such a beautiful day. Wilbur loves going for rides. We had a blast and it felt so good to just be out with Jim.

We feed the last of our bird seed to our birds and Junior (he’s our Yellowbellied Sap Sucker) came for one last visit.

Today Justin and I made chocolate chip cookies except I didn’t have any brown sugar so just substituted white and a bit more flavoring and I swear I bought chocolate chips but couldn’t find them anywhere’s so we took the last of the Valentine and Easter candy from the freezer and beat the living daylights out of it with a hammer.

So between this stuff, mowing, tilling the garden, scouts, getting some spring cleaning done and making a bracelet for an older customer….no wonder I’m tired and tomorrow I’m going to work out in the morning, take my daddy garage saling and I so want to do some kind of BBQ.

And I think last but not least, the rhubarb is ready so I went out and cut a stock pot full and make sauce. I made 12 quarts. I don’t have a picture to show you, you all know what canning looks like. But I have to say this was the tastiest batch I’ve ever made. I put the last of the apples from last fall, the last of the cranberries and the last of the freeze dried raspberries in it. Oh plus a box of sugar free orange jello.

I’m off Monday, time to relax and do some fishing. AND…. do a huge Memorial Service Flag ceremony at our VFW for our veterans. Our scouts and leaders were asked to do the flags and lead the pledge so that’s where Mike and I will be Monday at 10:00. Remember what Monday is folks, a day to say thank you and pray for all the families that are or have put their lives on the line for our freedom.

Take care my friends and have a blessed, awesome, relaxing, rejuvenating and wonderful weekend.

Try as I may….

2011-05-25T21:36:00.001-05:00

I can not leave a comment on anyone’s blog. I am sorry because I am reading and I have tried and tried and tried, for the past two days. I even thought it was my computer and did a clean up, restore (in case some how I changed some setting). I can’t find a place to e-mail anyone so I am just hopping blogger fixes itself and I can go and tell you I was there but until then please know I am reading and I have tried to e-mail a few of you telling you this. Most have gone to you, some come back.

Just wanted you to know. At least I can post and see what’s going on in your worlds.

Jim took me for a boat ride tonight. IT WAS AMAZING!!! It has been at least 5 years since we’ve taking the 14’ out on the lake. It felt wonderful.

Take care my friends. Have a blessed nights sleep.

Wordless Wednesday…

2011-05-24T21:16:00.001-05:00

Blessings my friends.

44:28…

2011-05-21T19:02:00.001-05:00

Well I beat my time, I wanted to do it in less the 45:00 and I did. I came in 9th, 3rd in my age group. The fastest time was 40:56, over all in the competition walk, so I am going to work hard to make that my best time.

Mike came and gave me lots of love and encouragement and I was so glad to see him at the 1/2 point. I was starting to cry a bit because of the challenge, the rain, the being alone but when he came and gave me some water and a smile I was ready to finish good and felt much better. I now know I can do this again and alone as long as there’s a friendly face in the crowd. It was weird, I live in a small town where most people know most people but out of the better then 100 people I knew maybe 10. It was a lonesome experience but a rewarding one.

Wilbur walked too in the Fitness Walk with a Venture Scout of mine, Kori. They did an awesome job too. Thank you Kori for taking Wilbur. He loves to walk so much and looks forward to you too.

Mike took some pictures so here they are. Thank you for all your kind words and encouragement also, I really needed it and it made all the difference in the world.

Ready, set GO!!!!

Half way point. The 5 of us were in the middle of the group.

Almost done and Mike there taking pictures. You guys, you have to know that Mike makes me so proud. He’s there always to give me what I need to keep going. I LOVE YOU MIKE!!!

And just about done.

All done, wet but so happy.

Kori and Wilbur crossing the finish line.

My partner in all my exercise walking.

And my sheet….

So I now have 2 weeks to improve my time but this walk is a walk/jog/run so my time should be about 10 minutes less. I’ll see what I can do to perfect that.

So now it’s time to relax, warm up and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Now before I close you’ve got to go to Michele's blog. Today she did her first bike tour. As of this minute she hasn’t posted anything for today but I know she will be. YOU GO GIRL!!! I am so proud of you.

Take care my friends and have a blessed and super awesome weekend. :o)

Canoeing…and…

2011-05-20T20:50:00.001-05:00

Mike and I took the canoe out last night and went fishing and canoeing. We worked hard because we went up the creek and two years ago it was more opened but we had beavers then. Well someone (not us because we don’t believe in trapping them from our area) trapped them so now we have muskrats. YUCK!!! They are so messy compared to beavers. Beavers make nice clean stand able dams, muskrats make mess soft yucky spots. Here, I’ll show you….

This is a beaver dam. There’s a difference of about 3’ in the water. Both sides are clean and we can fish either side.

This is muskrat mush, we had to portage around them and after doing that three times gave up and came back, portaging again 3 times.

I’m only complaining a little because out here all wild life is excepted just beavers are cooler.

Here’s a couple just because pictures and then I have to tell you about the loon.

We have a pair of loons that have been nesting on our lake for at least 10 years and if I think really hard I bet lots longer then that. They are so use to us they swim around the boat. Well last night on our way back we got to stop by mama loons nest and take some pictures and while we did that she swam close to the canoe just to make sure we weren’t touching. She never threatened us or us her we just sat and drifted along and took pictures. ENJOY!!!

So there you have it, our outing last night. I’m not sure the calories burned being out paddling, portaging and fishing use up but it’s gotta be better then sitting at home doing nothing (like that ever really happens here).

Jim and I transplanted some trees last night after fishing. Jim will buy or get small baby trees and put them in the garden until they are established and then transplant them. When we bought this land from mama and daddy it was a field. Now look at it…

This little guy came and visited us yesterday, he’s called an Indigo Bunting. He never stays real long, maybe a few days, but him and his lady are so fun to watch.

Okay we’re off for a bike ride to great grandma’s. Soon I’ll have the little bike cart fixed and be able to have the girls in that instead of on me and my bike but for now this works. Speaking of bike rides, how is everyone doing on their 20 day challenge? 11 days left to get your time in and then I’ll have a drawing for everyone that participated. I have 15 days in now with a total of 65 miles. Not far but I am getting my days in.

Take care and have a blessed and awesome day.

Life at the Riley’s….

2011-05-16T09:51:00.001-05:00

Well it hasn’t been that exciting so there’s not really to much to share but I do have a little bit. Not exciting is just fine cuz that means no one is sick, no one is coming apart at the seams, it just means status quo and that is good.

First and foremost. Daddy is doing wonderfully. He has healed really well from his surgery and is getting around just fine. He is still limited on his activities according to the doctor but he can do the every day stuff. Thank you so much for all your concern, love and prayers.

Last Friday I had a new little one here for a visit. Really she’s not new, she’s been here before but she just visits from time to time. Her name is Brooke. We went to see great grandma and Mark and the goats. She loved it and of course my other little ones did too. The goats get so excited to see them.

Then we had a tornado watch and the skies turned that gross green color. Nothing happened in our area but some of the cloud formations were pretty cool.

The oriole's are back. They usually just stay at the feeders out front but have found the hummingbird feeder and are drinking them dry. I can’t seem to get a picture of them at the feeder though, they can see me coming and fly away to the nearest tree to yell at me to go away so they can come back.

My transplants are thriving wonderfully. In fact it’s time to transplant them one more time before it’s time to harden them off and get them into the garden. I don’t have any larger containers except some pine tree pots so am going to use them and just put 3-4 cups in each until time to get them into the garden. It should be okay, hopefully.

Can you tell I want to do some sewing? I got these used books from Amazon.com and am in love with all three. One of them didn’t come with the patterns like it was suppose to so I wrote the place I got it from and explained and they gave me a full refund. I am going to be able to use the book, it’ll just take a little extra time figuring out the patterns but since I’m not much for following a pattern really close anyways I bet I’ll have no problems at all.

Now I need to dig out my stash of fabric and see what I can come up with. I love little projects that can be done in a day or two and all three of these books have those kind of projects.

And the last picture, Mike was downstairs playing with the kids and they all left him. This is what we call the good-boy bed. It’s the size of a crib just without rails and it’s on the floor level. I am not sure how he got all of him in there and to nap too but he did. He slept for an hour down there but when he got up he had lots of stretching to day to uncurl all 6’4” of him.

Now it’s onward and upwards. It is a beautiful day here today. 48* and sunny and suppose to get up near 70. We are heading outside as soon as my pie is done baking. I made a pumpkin pie for scouts tonight. We are having roadside pick up and a pot luck so am making the pie.

Take care my friends and have the most awesome and blessed day possible.

Game night….

2011-05-14T23:39:00.001-05:00

Tonight was game night. We had a blast. The boys roasted wieners and marshmallows and then we played at least 4 different games. I love these nights together. I took two pictures that I want to share with you….

Now you tell me that grandma doesn’t like time with her grandsons. LOVE IT!!!!

Tomorrow is family day and it’s suppose to be sunny. I am hoping that we can go fishing but first grocery shopping and breakfast out.

I hope that you have a blessed and awesome Sunday. Take care my friends.

Patience .... you'll see...

2011-05-12T13:11:00.000-05:00

I had some other stuff I was going to post today. Nothing super special, just some sharing but this tops the list of anything so watch and think.

Take care and have a blessed day!

Biking….

2011-05-10T14:47:00.001-05:00

What do you do when you babysit 3 wee ones and it’s not nice enough to really play in the sand and the bigger kids aren’t home to play with too? You go for a bike ride. Justin is in 7th heaven being able to ride his bike on the road. See how he’s riding the white line? Julie’s rules and if you don’t follow, well that’s the end of the fun. Joss is loving riding in the backpack, she can see everything. Poor Hannah gets to see where we’ve been or my butt. She still laughs and giggles though so I know she’s having fun.

We went for a mile and a half ride last night and today a 2 mile ride. It’s good for exercise and it’s great to go and visit the great grandma and Mark and see the goats, sheep, donkey and dogs and also stop to see grandma and grandpa and get a sucker and play with the cats. What a great way to use up a morning when it’s not dry enough to really play in the sand or grass.

Just had to share our morning. I hope you all are having a blessed and wonderful day today. We are!!!

Learning to cast…

2011-05-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

This is Justin, one of my daycare wee ones. We went fishing this past weekend and he wanted me to teach him to cast. Well as you can see in these two video’s he learned and is very proud of himself. He should be, he did excellent.

To take a kid fishing, is truly a learning experience for both…or for me all 3. But it was so much fun. I love these kids.

I hope you take the time to spend time taking with your wee ones. They don’t have to be yours either, little people just need us to give them some of our time. They deserve it, they love it and you will too.

Take care and have a blessed week.

hiking, fishing and biking…

2011-05-08T20:33:00.001-05:00

Well Mike and I went hiking once again. I do have to mention that in our area the mountain biking trails are not opened yet, there is a grand opening coming in June and right now they are waiting for everything to thaw and then harden up before the trails will open. So after saying that Mike and I have been hiking them, around them, near them. Once these trails are opened they are going to be amazing. Here’s a couple of more pictures from our last hike. Our first hike was up Boy Scout mountain just on the outside edge of Crosby.

The roof in the foreground is my church. Crosby Bible Baptist Church.

This is from across the pit lake. Huntington Lake. We hiked this side on Friday and the other side on Wednesday.

This is an old mine shaft. Mike is curious as to how far it goes in, he’s going to get some glow sticks and check it out. Not by body I said.

I had daycare this weekend and I took Jon, Justin and Hannah fishing. They had a blast and Justin learned how to cast. He was so proud of himself. I’ll do a second post with a short video clip or two of him learning. It is so precious.

Grandpa came down to help me a little bit. It’s kind of hard keeping three poles untangled and working so they can cast and fish some more. We didn’t catch anything but Hannah did have a nibble at first.

Scout fell in twice. The first time she was scared out of her mind. She didn’t know a think about that much water or how to swim. The second time she did excellent. She started to doggy paddle around just a bit before climbing to shore.

Hannah got tired of fishing so she went and sat in the cart. I had some M&M’s in there and if the boys knew she would of had to share but she just sat in there and ate them by herself.

A Loon on our lake. Really there’s two but they just kept diving and I couldn’t get them together. It threatened to rain on us the whole time we were out there but it didn’t.

Mike and Scott went biking yesterday while I had daycare and then worked with Jim in the late afternoon. They had a blast together. They always do.

So there you have it, our weekend in pictures. It’s a new week and I’m sure we’ll fill the week up with all kind of things that have to be done and other things we do because we enjoy life.

I hope you have a blessed week. I’m sure I’ll be back with more to share. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy lives to visit with us. Take care my friends.

Busy…as always really…

2011-05-04T22:26:00.001-05:00

It’s been a good week. Busy with daycare, planting, playing, hiking and so much more.

First I gotta show you something cute. Ain’t love grand?!!

Today I spent the morning repotting my tomatoes and peppers. They had grown their 4 leaf and had become pretty leggy, so it was time to transplant.

For those who don’t know how to transplant a seedling, I’m going to share. Now I am sure there are a hundred ways to do this but this is the way my mama taught me and the way I taught Mike and many daycare families.

So first you buy some Dixie cups. I got the 5oz ones for less the $2.00 for 90 of them.

I lined them up on the tray just to see how many I could fit and to make sure my cookie sheet was big enough to hold them all. It works. Love my cookie sheet? I got it at a garage sale last year for $5.00. It doesn’t fit in my oven but it works great for rice krispie bars.

Then you take a cup and fill it 1/4 of the way with potting soil.

Scoop out the seedling and separate into groups of two. We almost always plant them in two’s.

Put them into the cup and be very careful to circle the roots around in cup so they don’t break. This makes for a hardy root system.

The fill 2/3 of the way to the top with dirt.

And there you have it. The same for the peppers too.

My “helper” today.

Tonight Mike and I went and hiked one the mountain bike trails in Cuyuna Range Recreation area.

We had a great time and took both dogs with us too. Now the trails aren’t opened yet for bikes so we hiked, took pictures and enjoyed ourselves.

These are my favorite picture tonight. We always keep the dogs on leashes, just to keep them safe and so if we do meet anyone no one is bothered by them. I let Wilbur walk on his own with the leash dragging and all of a sudden Scout picked up Wilbur’s leash and it looks like Scout is walking Wilbur while being walked by us.

Here’s a switch back on a hill side. Three levels and still not near the waters edge.

I love this picture too. It’s a tree that is sorta just growing off the edge of the hill side.

And of course what is an outing without a picture of Mike.

And last but not least. The pups….

So there you have the first part of our week. The rest of the week is cleaning out the chicken coop, getting the garden ready to till, cleaning up the yard, and lots of spring cleaning.

So until my next chance to post take care my friends and have a blessed rest of the week.

Daddy is home…

2011-05-03T14:27:00.001-05:00

Finally back home and on my computer. It was interesting posting with my itouch, I have never done that before.

Daddy is going to be okay. Sore but like any surgery is was scare for a bit but he’ll be okay now. Mike was so good for me today, he took the day off from work to take care of Joss so neither I or her mama had to worry.

I left daddy after helping him and mama get settled. I’ll go back tonight to get supper if they need help and take care of the outside animals and wood fire. I think all will be fine after a couple days recovery. Well I shouldn’t really say fine because there’s some mega healing happening but if he listens to mama it’ll go much better.

Thank you all for your kinds words, prayers and support. I and my family appreciate it from the bottom of our hearts.

Take care everyone and have a blessed afternoon.

At hospital...touch update

2011-05-03T09:31:00.002-05:00

This is so cool using my touch to update you. So far so good according to the last update on daddy. One hour down four to go. I will update tonight when I get home. Take care friends and God bless.

Spring? ….. NOT!!!

2011-05-01T19:50:00.001-05:00

Do you see that white junk on Frosty’s hat? It is never going to leave us. We have been dusted and snowed on and dusted again thiis past week. It is suppose to be short season. I WANT TO WEAR SHORTS!!! And be warm in them. They are saying more dustings tonight and winds up to 25 mph. You know what that does to the wind-chill…BURR!!! Right now it’s 18* and it’s May 1st. UGH!!! Will this winter ever leave so we can have summer?

Oh well soon we’ll have bugs and snakes and bats and …. well other things to complain about but for right now, I’d take them over this being cold. Plus I had to carry in my extra stash of wood tonight. I keep a smaller pile of it for camp fires and wiener roasts and such but we are burning it to stay warm. Another few days of wood left, then it had better just plain warm up.

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On my other blog I put a bike riding challenge. If you are looking for a spring time challenge, hop over to my life style change blog.

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Tuesday my daddy is going to have hernia surgery. Please keep him in your prayers. This isn’t his first time but this one hurts a bit more then the last couple so we are just hoping that they can take care of it laparoscopic. I’ll keep you posted.

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And that my friends is all that is happening right now. A new week, a few new challenges, and always lots to do and take care of. No complaints from me………well other then the snow that is. Take care and have a blessed night sleep and a great day tomorrow.

TGIF!!!

2011-04-29T12:51:00.001-05:00

Really it’s been a good week but I am ready for the weekend. I have it off which is nice because so does Mike and that means tomorrow morning we are going to go geo-caching. He doesn’t know this yet but he will after I get home tonight from my workout. He sent me a list of them the other day so I’ll get that printed out and we’ll go play a bit. In the afternoon my nephew will be here so him and Mike will be having a blast and then in the evening it’s family game night at my parents. We’ll have a wiener roast, croquet and a game of catopoly (which I always lose at but the boys love). But before the weekend gets here I have a couple of pictures to share with you.

The squirrels are driving Wilbur bonkers. He will run outside trying to catch them but they are fast and he’s not that fast so he sits in my office chair and watches them outside the window.

Then on Thursday while Justin was in pre-school Jossilyn and Hannah got to play. Of course Wilbur sucks up all the love and attention he can.

The puppy and Jossilyn are a hoot together. Where one is the other is also.

All in all it was a great week. I still haven’t done a single craft. There just isn’t enough time in my day to get that done. I have so many ideas and then yesterday on Martha Stewart show there was a lady that made baby bloomers and she had the coolest book with ideas so of course I went to Amazon and found a used one I have to have. The book is called
"Weekend Sewing: More Than 40 Projects and Ideas for Inspired Stitching" by Heather Ross. Maybe a weekend project can turn into a nap time project and I can do something. We’ll see.

So now it’s onwards and upwards to a wonderful, fun-filled, relaxing (well sorta), rejuvenating weekend. Take care my friends and have a blessed day.

From this….to this…

2011-04-27T14:30:00.001-05:00

From this on Monday……….

To this on Wednesday……..WTH, why? I know cuz I live in Minnesota and it even snows on July 4th. UGH…..will it ever end? I’m so tired of winter. I’m tired of being cold. I’m tired of wearing jeans, I want shorts. I’m tired of looking like a beached whale, it’s time for a tanned one.

On Monday Mike and I also went for a 10.56 mile bike ride on the

We had a great time though I am still not a happy camper riding a bike but we had a great time anyways. So you can enjoy some of our countryside I will share a few pictures with you. Even though winter refuses to let go I wouldn’t trade Minnesota for anywhere else in this great world of ours.

This is a spoil pile along the edge of one of the pit lakes.

Our area is a mining area. We have quite a few open pit lakes that have left over reminders of the life that use to be part of the area. See the old railroad tracks?

Well it’s hump day and it was library day. Two weeks ago Justin and I brought in some duck eggs and he did a small presentation for the little ones. He was so proud. Here’s the library’s picture they took of him.

And also, introducing my littlest one….meet Josselyn. She’s my newest wee one. She turned one last week.

So there you have it, well mostly, I have two more photo’s to share with you. On our way home Monday evening we came in the back way and less then a mile from our home we saw this…..now you know why we fence everything. Why the apples trees never have apples and the plum trees don’t get past the budding stages.

Guess what it’s still doing? Yep, snowing but now big fluffy pretty flakes but still snowing. I will sure enjoy summer when it gets here.

Take care everyone. Happy Hump Day and thank you for stopping by. God Bless you all!!!

Last but not least…

2011-04-27T07:57:00.000-05:00

STARTING OVER….

The two important things I did learn were that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be, and that the most difficult part of any Endeavour is taking the first step, making the first decision. – Robyn Davidson

These words were written by a woman who learned to handle camels and traveled alone with them across the Australian Outback. Somehow the intensity of the circumstances under which she gathered these learning's make them even more profound. What if each of us believed that we are “as powerful and strong” as we allow ourselves to be? What if we quit trying to be accepted by everyone and gave up trying not to alienate anyone and just let ourselves be as strong and powerful as we are? Nothing extraordinary, mind you, just as wonderfully powerful as we naturally are.

And, what if we let ourselves take the first step towards what we really want? Nothing big…no fanfares…just do it!!

REMEMBER today really is the first day of the rest of my life.

AMEN!!!

If you want a good book for meditations, check this one out at your local library.

Meditations, For Women who do too much. By Anne Wilson Schaef. It has helped me with my daily meditations and I asked the library if I could check it out again, this is the third time and since it’s not a well used book I get it for another two weeks. YEAH!!! Lots of things to read, think about and then listen.

Even though Lent is over, our Lord has risen from the grave to give us the opportunity to be in heaven when we die, I am going to continue my meditation. I am no where near up to a full 30 minutes of just listening but I’m learning. And I think this has been one of the best Lents for Christ yet.

Take care my friends and have a blessed day.

Part two: SOLITUDE…

2011-04-26T09:36:00.000-05:00

I have been fretting about the empty nest. I have been afraid that what Jim and I had before Mike won’t return and that I’ll be left standing alone to do the things that make me happy. I’m wrong. So very wrong. The love is still there, the passion is still there and yes we’ve both grown into completely different people we are still the same in many ways too. The biggest fact, we love each other for now, for always, no matter what.

SOLITUDE:

You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub. – Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Solitude is such a blessing! Everyone needs time alone. Often we are fearful of time alone, because there is no one for us to encounter but ourselves. How comforting it is to go to ourselves! How much like returning home to an old friend or lover after having been away too long visiting places that felt foreign and unfamiliar.

Our solitude is one of the pleasures that only we can arrange. It is up to us to see that we regenerate through our time with ourselves. We have the right, and we have the power. If we do not model respect for our own need for solitude, our children will never learn that they deserve their time alone.

LET ME REMEMBER that there is nothing more soothing than sound of running water, even if it is only in my bathtub.

Take care my friends, find a quiet corner and just relax and collect yourself and enjoy. God bless you all!!

What I learned… a 3 part series:

2011-04-25T09:18:00.000-05:00

Remember for Lent I was going to meditate each day for at least 30 minutes? Well it’s personal, lots of learning, listening and more but there are two things I want to share with you. To very important things. Also no matter what you think about life, meditation is good for the soul. It doesn’t have to be spiritual, it can just be self centering or soul searching or just plain old regular quiet time.

#1. Living in the Moment:

Love the moment, and the energy of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries – Corita Kent

We women who do too much have a terrible time loving the moment. We are always making lists and eyeing the tasks that are just around the corner when we need to be busy working on the task at hand. Hence, rarely does anything get out full, undivided attention. Because of this subtle distractibility and lack of presence, we miss a lot.

When we really can be in the moment, the very process of being in the moment radiates into the crevices of our life and begins to dust out the cobwebby corners.

PRESENCE is such a gift….to myself and other.

This last Monday I spend the day with my family and I put my heart and soul into that day. No distractions, no thinking about what’s next, nothing but family, together, fellowship and fun.

This is so true, LIVE IN THE MOMENT!!!

Take care my friends, tomorrow will be my second insight. God bless you all.

HAPPY EASTER….

2011-04-23T22:47:00.001-05:00

First, it’s my birthday today. I’m 49. No I don’t lie about my age, I’m earned every gray hair and and wrinkle I have. I enjoy my life and everything the good Lord has giving me. I have been blessed with so many wonderful friends and a wonderful family and the worlds greatest daycare kids.

The kids had a great time on Easter vacation and even have one more day to go and we’ll be working on Mother’s days gifts then.

We decorated Easter eggs, went and visited with grandma and grandpa and also great grandma. We had a blast. Of course I took pictures to share so here they are.

Tomorrow is Easter. Family time. Time to remember what Easter is even all about. It sure isn’t just the bunny and the eggs.

Behind the festive joys, feast, fun and family enjoyment, Easter reminds all of a significant event. The event that Jesus Christ was resurrected, after having suffered and died. It reminds you that Christ, who was crucified on, what is now called, the Good Friday, showed himself up on the Easter. So, it is a time to celebrate. To celebrate - that Lord, who appeared on Earth for the good of mankind, is always with us. This is what it means to me.

HAPPY EASTER my friends. May you all have a blessed day.

Como Conservatory, Minneapolis, MN

2011-04-19T20:39:00.001-05:00

That’s where I took mama, daddy, my aunt Pat, Mike and Scott yesterday. Really Mike and Scott went to the zoo while we visited thousands and thousands of beautiful flowers, trees and so much more. We had a blast visiting with Pat and Daryle and then heading to the conservatory. We ended our day with a trip to Old Country Buffet for a fine afternoon dinner. It was perfect weather with just the right amount of clouds and sunshine and not to hot and not to cold. I have a zillion pictures I could share with you but will try and just pick out a bunch to show you. If you live anywhere within a hundred miles or so you’ve got to take the time to go and see this beautiful place. They have many different “shows” through out the year like Poinsettia's in the winter, fall flowers in the autumn and a summer display also. Okay, pictures…..

It was a great day. I hope we can do it again but with the gas prices right now it cost me $75.00 to go to the cities and back so I think it’ll be a little bit at before we can go but really can you place a dollar amount on the time you spend with family? Nope, so we’ll just go again soon.

Take care my friends, enjoy the spring show and have a blessed evening.

This week in pictures…oh and a few words…

2011-04-16T22:29:00.001-05:00

So do you want to see birthday pictures? Scouts pictures, part/full moon, ducks, more kids? Our first picnic, the beaver in the creek? And Wilbur checking out the baby chicks in the brooder box? Oh and Monster Bobby, the crabby cat from Mars! I have them all so here, take a peek.

Simba is Scout’s new friend. He lets her nibble on his back leg and pull him all over the kitchen.

Wilbur is adjusting and now even playing with the puppy. Mid way through the week Mike said the puppy was getting cold so I picked her up a little t-shirt at the thrift store for .38 cents.

She is the cutest puppy. Mike makes the perfect “daddy”. They are a great pair together.

See these ducks? For years they have looked at the pond but refused to get into it. Well since the Muscovy's like it they now all use it. YEAH!!! The pond will stay clean and nice looking as long as they use it.

Mid week and the moon. Mike took these pictures. I love them.

Monster Bobby mad because …. well because he hates everything lately.

Justin turned 5 on Friday. Ain’t he the cutest 5 year old around. I sure do think so. He’s my little helper at daycare and I love him so much.

This is what I woke up to this morning. YUCK!!! Why can’t winter just leave? We have burned up just about 14 cords of wood this year. Less then 1/2 cord left so it needs to get warm very, very soon.

Here’s the moon tonight. Did you get to see it? It’s beautiful!!!

I know it’s hard to see, this is my cell phone picture but there’s a huge beaver in the creek.

Wilbur spends the better part of an hour watching the baby chicks. When we built the brooder box we put this little slider door in so when the babies get bigger they can get some fresh air, until then Wilbur peeks a lot.

And our first picnic of the week. It was Wednesday and a bit windy but so nice out. I even wore shorts on Tuesday it was so nice. Now…..snow and cold.

It was a good week here. There is always so much happening. A week I wouldn’t trade for a million bucks. I hope you all had a great week and a relaxing and wonderful weekend. God Bless you all!!

Rest in Peace Pop-Pop….

2011-04-14T09:45:00.002-05:00

Michael C. Shea

AITKIN — Michael C. Shea, 94, formerly of Florida, passed away Friday, April 8, 2011, at his home in Aitkin, Minn. Private family interment is scheduled for a later date at Bay Pines National Cemetery in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Michael is survived by his stepdaughter, Stephanie (Cecil) Riley. He was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth (Twers); and his parents, Charles and Mary (Smith) Shea.

We will miss you pop-pop but know now that you are with granny and living happily ever after.

Hug those grandparents, great grandparents, parents and anyone else you can think off because you just don’t know when they won’t be here any longer to love physically.

Take care my friends and God bless!!

The weekend…

2011-04-11T15:04:00.001-05:00

We worked hard on our weekend but we also rested. Check this out, I had control of the remote for at least an hour.

To my left….

To my right…

The floor in front of my chair…

The loveseat…

It was so quiet. Now this afternoon it’s the same thing…

The cat sleeping in the crib, Wilbur in Mike’s chair, the puppy in the playpen, Mike in his bed, Hannah in the good girl bed and Justin on the mat. I had control of the TV again for an hour. It so neat. It won’t happen often but sure am enjoying it while it lasts.

The puppy is working out beautifully. She goes potty outside. She was raised on hay and the floor isn’t her favorite place to potty, (YEAH!!!) and yelps at the door to go out. She’s only 6 weeks old and has had two tiny, tiny accidents on the little rug in the kitchen. I can handle that. She is so full of love and other then Monster Bobby has been excepted by everyone.

When the puppy first came Hannah was a little jealous of “her” Mike being busy with the puppy but after some Mikey time she was all better.

We got our baby chicks this weekend. Wilbur loves watching them. Come the end of the week I’ll let the kids start holding them and then next week we’ll take some Easter pictures with them. I love it when Easter is just a tad later so we can do this.

I have got to do some sewing or crafting or something. I would like to make Hannah a pillowcase dress and I need to make some Easter baskets for the kids and I have got to do some beading before I forget how too. Maybe each nap time this week I’ll try and do something special. If I don’t just do it, I’ll just miss out on some creativeness and I sure don’t want to do that.

My husband’s grandfather passed away this weekend. It wasn’t expected but it really wasn’t unexpected either. He quit eating and talking last week and was just tired. He was 94 years old. He lived in Florida most of his life and the last year moved up here, to the frozen tundra to be closer to his daughter and family. He was happy and content and it was his time to be called home. Pop-pop will be missed.

A new week, it’s spring and the grass is starting to green up. The weather is cool but sunny and you can smell the difference in the air. Don’t breath to deeply yet though cuz the snow is gone and there is tons and tons of mold from the snow and it makes everyone in my family miserable. It rained a little this weekend and helped but it won’t be gone until the last of the snow is gone.

Today Mike was on his way to get his physical and ended up with his first flat tire on the side of the road (I forgot to take pictures, darn it all). He was rattled a bit so called me. I came and just parked my car closer to the edge of the road and stood by him while he changed his tired. He did fine, in fact fantastic but was a bit rattled the first time so now he knows he will be just fine when it happens again. He didn’t get to the doctor though so we just rescheduled.

So it’s that time of day, snack time and time to go out and play. I hope you all have a great day. Take care and God Bless you all!!

Scout is home..

2011-04-08T14:27:00.001-05:00

Scouts first few minutes here. She already knows us from all the visit to Terri’s so Mike took her all over here. She got to see grandma and grandpa, great grandma and uncle Mark. Mike took her to the gas station where she whined when he went into pay. She’s slept in his lap at nap time (he napped too) and now he’s on the computer but she’s napping again. Here’s a few “firsts” to share with you. Enjoy and have a blessed afternoon.

I am positive there will be more pictures but had to share her first few hours with us.

One important thing…before I share…

2011-04-08T10:54:00.001-05:00

Thank you for your words of support and prayers for mama. Mama got some results back and the aneurysm is the same size so it hasn’t grown, yeah!!!. Her blood work came back and other then her hemoglobin is very low the rest is normal. She has to get those legs up when she is sitting down. She needs ted socks so I’m going to measure her this weekend and make sure we get some. And in two weeks she’ll go back to for the rest of her results and to see the doctor on her swelling. So all in all things came out pretty good except we still don’t know to much either. But thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your prayers and words of comfort and support.

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Now some other things. Daddy and I went for a walk last night and the snow is melting and making some really cool streams and sounds in the woods. And there is green moss!!! See….

Now it’s also been nice enough that the kids don’t have to wear coats in the afternoon and the chickens are running free. Check this patient rooster out…

The chickens and ducks love bread and will come running anytime they see a bread bag.

It is Easter time and though I do not believe the Easter bunny has anything to do with Easter I decorate a little bit for the daycare kids. Here’s some eggs we glittered, some dollar store mirrored eggs, a real freeze dried duck and a bird nest. Good enough and colorful and this time a year we need a little colorful.

And last but not least. We went to the library on Wednesday and it was all about ducks and since we have ducks Justin got to bring in the baby duck, pictures of our ducks and some duck eggs (I boiled them so they’d still look like eggs after being handled by 30 wee ones). Justin didn’t say to much but did tell the kids about the Muscovy ducks and show and telled about the eggs.

All in all it was a good week. It had some ups and downs but the ups always outweigh the downs. I hope you had a great week and that the upcoming weekend is even better. Take care my friends and God Bless!!

A few things to share…

2011-04-05T13:09:00.002-05:00

1. My mama is sick. Lots of doctoring in the near future. Future is unclear but a day at a time. Prayers please. I’ll tell you what I know when I know more but for now an Aneurysm in her belly and little circulation to her feet. Swollen so bad the skins going to burst and so painful to move around. Feet are bruising. Dr. Appointment yesterday, Ultrasound today, test results ??

2. I have a new daycare little one starting the end of the month. Full time and normal hours, 8-5 M-F. Life here has been a struggle for so long and really just one isn’t going to make me a millionaire but it will make paying the bills more manageable. It will make being able to stay home and work from home a continued possibility.

3. Jim is okay with Mike getting a puppy. No arguments, no crabbies, nothing!! Friday is the day, Mike will have his little Scout. She has turned out to be the runt of the litter but also the lovingest. Perfect for Mike, perfect for her.

4. My back and legs are better. The nerve isn’t pinched any more, I can feel my arm again and my leg is just fine. YEAH!!!

5. The new menu’s are perfect for me. Chicken, turkey, fish and lots of veggies. EXCELLENT!!!

6. Getting to the gym, not perfect. Working out at home and walking 2-4 miles each evening. I’ll make it to the gym Thursday and Saturday this week. Next week Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. After that lots of hit and misses. Now comes the challenge of getting there but I’m not giving it up.

I think that’s it guys. I’m a little scattered so easier for me to tell you in short bursts what’s what then writing a book. The kids and I got to walk to the creek today. It’s opening up so we threw rocks. They had a blast and I soaked up the sunshine. It’s still hat, coat and mitten days here but at least I didn’t have to put on my snowsuit.

I hope you all are doing well. I hope that you are blessed to the fullest with so much love and life your cup is running over. Take care my friends. God bless you all!!

Things I learned this weekend….

2011-04-03T21:31:00.001-05:00

June 13, 1920 - The United States Postal Service rules that children may not be sent via parcel post.

I wonder how many children the post office sent before this date. Now this is something I want to research. How to research this will be interesting because I have tried all Sunday evening to get somewhere but so far nothing. But I’ll keep it up.

We went to our local Business Trade Show yesterday. This bit of information was on a history wall and it caught my eye. There was such cool home improvement ideas and more. I found a counter top I would love for my kitchen if we were get to redoing the cabinets. I found the coolest cupboard faces too. We have hard maple cabinets so will never need to replace them but if I don’t resurface them maybe a new face. There was outdoor equipment and goodies to see too. I signed up for some drawings and Mike and I picked up some new pens and note pads. All in all we had a great time.

Here’s another cool thing I read today.

Fish line. Did you know to make an invisible fence for deer you can use fish line?

Here’s the article. You can click on the pictures and it’ll come up bigger. If you can’t for whatever reason it say put up fence posts, wrap fish line from post to post, go back and make criss crosses and there you have a fence the deer can’t see and when they walk up to it, they’ll touch it but not be able to do anything like jump it because all they don’t know how tall it is and it scares them. This is from the Countryside magazine.

Here’s are two cool and easy craft I found in

The first….

The best thing I like about this is the twisted wire egg holder. We all can make that and it would be such a cool way to display the kids eggs.

and

Made from plaster of paris. So cool and so easy for the kids to make. Guess what we’ll be doing this month? Yep, great Easter and spring ideas.

I had to share what I learned and found today. I hope you all had a great weekend. A new week is upon us and so many opportunities to enjoy all the great Lord has given us. Take care and have a blessed and awesome Monday.

Spring?

2011-04-03T16:27:00.001-05:00

Not yet but the Gold Finches are back. They never really leave but they stay in the woods most of the winter. Now they are back to the feeders. See…

A new week. Snow in the forecast tomorrow and Tuesday. There’s still lots of snow on the ground but it is melting and making tons and tons of mud.

And a fire in the wood stove to keep us warm and the hot water hot.

But one day, and not that far in the future we’ll be seeing this again.

And this…

Just have to be patient. It’s hard but I’m trying.

Take care my friends. Have a great and awesome week. God Bless you all!!

Mug Wamp…Shag Poke…Great Blue Heron…and more!

2011-04-01T14:05:00.001-05:00

Their back. I saw my first one Thursday morning. Of course no real camera but I did have my cell phone. So here’s my first glimpse this year.

We have had a busy week. This weather makes it a bit tough to really go out and play like we are use to but we do it anyways and I just end up doing some extra laundry cuz you can’t hope things will dry from the morning outing to the afternoon outs. The kids and I have been baking, going to the library, playing and making. Here are pictures to share with you.

First, our Gold Finches are back. I love their singing. Also both Kim and mama saw their first Robins this week. I haven’t been lucky enough yet but they are coming. YEAH!!

Remember a long time ago I made a candle holder out of these 22 shell holders? Well Kim used them for cute little sewing projects for a little girl she watches sometimes. So of course I had to copy and let Hannah do some “sewing”. I need to dig out the rest of them cuz she sews this one up in a hurry and it would be nice to have more while I’m unsewing this one.

Justin loves the Lincoln logs and Thomas and Brio trains. Wilbur has to be apart of it all too!

Jon is my helper when he is home. He loves helping carry wood and stuffing the stove. I so appreciate his help.

Jim and Mike were working on the side of the garage where they put in a new service box and Hannah wanted to help them so bad. She had to see what they were doing and has to be part of “her” guys.

One of my kids favorite things is eating our farm fresh eggs. They start out by collecting them, washing them and then eating them. They love them with peppers, onions and bacon in them. We use them for lots of baking also.

We went to the library Wednesday and it was Music with Connie Lou. Connie Lou is a lady from Justin church and he was so excited to see her at his library too. They made music shakers out of old spice containers. So cute and they loved them.

So there you have our week. Busy, fun and so very rewarding. God really has blessed me with the best job in the whole wide world.

I hope you all had a great week. This weekend will be busy too. First thing Saturday morning I’ll go exercise then there is a gun show in Deerwood and on Sunday a Trade Show in Brainerd plus our usual shopping and we also need to rebuild my mama’s computer. Last night it got the black screen of death so we need to see what we can do about that. Hopefully can save what was on the hard drive and then format it or just rebuild it. We’ll see. So as you see, there’s never a dull moment here and we do live the LIFE OF RILEY!!!

Take care my friends and God Bless you all!

Your giggle for the day!!

2011-03-29T07:44:00.001-05:00

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE PETS, THIS IS A TRUE STORY.

FOR THOSE THAT DON'T, IT IS A TRUE STORY.

The following was found posted very low on a refrigerator door.

Dear Dogs and Cats: The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Racing me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.
I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort, however. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other, stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out on the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.
For the last time, there is no secret exit from the bathroom! If, by some miracle, I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge in an attempt to open the door. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years - canine/feline attendance is not required.
The proper order for kissing is: Kiss me first, then go smell the other dog's or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough.
Finally, in fairness, dear pets, I have posted the following message on the front door:

TO ALL NON-PET OWNERS WHO VISIT AND LIKE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PETS:

(1) They live here. You don't.

(2) If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture.. That's why they call it 'fur'-niture.

(3) I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.

(4) To you, they are animals.. To me, they are adopted sons/daughters who are short, hairy, walk on all fours and don't speak clearly.

Remember, dogs and cats are better than kids because they:

(1) eat less,

(2) don't ask for money all the time,

(3) are easier to train,

(4) normally come when called,

(5) never ask to drive the car,

(6) don't hang out with drug-using people;

(7) don't smoke or drink,

(8) don't want to wear your clothes,

(9) don't have to buy the latest fashions,

(10) don't need a gazillion dollars for college and

(11) if they get pregnant, you can sell their children .....

Take care everyone and have an awesome, wonderful and blessed day!!!

Meet Scout….

2011-03-28T13:22:00.001-05:00

This is Mike’s new puppy. Now he can’t really have her until the 8th of April, which for Mike is going to be the longest two weeks ever but she loves him like he did her. It was so cute. He sat down in the hay with all the puppies, picking up this one and then that one and his new one came to him first and each time he picked up another one would pull on his sleeve, bite his pants and just look at him. It was a match. So here you go guys, pictures of Mike’s new girlfriend. :o)

You know another really cool, super cool thing? She was born just a couple of days after Mike’s birthday. I jus figured that out and it is awesome!!!

It was a great morning so far today. How could it not be, picking up and loving 6 little girl puppies that smell oh so wonderful and squeak like little ones and …..oh it was just plan great. I am as excited as Mike for him to have a companion. He and she will have the best summer ever.

Okay, time to finish up a banana cream pie for my father-in-law, banana cake for the kids dessert and pork chops in mushroom gravy for Jim and Mike at work tomorrow. None of this for me but I’m not missing the stuff any more so not a big deal at all. I do however want some chicken still. Broasted, fried, anything crispy. So far so good.

Take care my friends and have an awesome afternoon. God Bless!!

It melted some….

2011-03-23T20:33:00.001-05:00

10:00 am

3:00 pm

Got our snowman built. The snow on top was sticky but the stuff underneath was still crystally so we couldn’t make big snowmen so just made a baseball team little ones.

Now this is for Jill. She is a SAHM that does such amazing things with her daughters. She shares all the crafts and trips and things the girls does with the girls and some of her ideas work so great with my daycare little ones. Anyways, here Jill, we made them.

Feet butterflies. They turned out so cool and they had a blast making them.

Ain’t love grand? !!!!

He loves whole wheat toast with peanut butter on it. He has to work really hard to get it though, little chunk at a time.

My Wilbur.

Maybe the soon to be last winter pictures. We do live in Minnesota and snow can come on Easter too so we’ll see.

So there you have it. My day in the middle of the week. I hope you had a great day, I know I did. Take care my friends and have a blessed evening.

Spring my butt….!!!…

2011-03-23T09:16:00.001-05:00

Well if this is spring, then I’m a 180 lb snow bunny. UGH!!!! There is at least 10” out there and 2-4” more coming. Now tonight it’s going to be below zero again. See….

Well the squirrel doesn’t care.

Canopy bit the dust. After at least 8 years of use.

It is so windy even my porch has snow on it and Wilbur's couch looks so cold.

Just yesterday I was out raking under the trees and picking up the yard. Guess now it’ll be another couple of weeks before we see the grass or dirt again.

The kids are home today so we made these. First roasted veggies and then apple/blueberry turnovers.

And these….

Now we are heading outside to take the canopy apart and feed the chickens and the fire. I’m sure if we can get the snow to stick together maybe even a snowman. We’ll see and I’ll share later on.

Take care my friends and God Bless!!!

Nothing new but…

2011-03-22T09:35:00.001-05:00

I do have a couple reviews I can do. Awhile back I won a CSN gift code from Debbi. So I got to go shopping for nothing. Oh that was fun.

I got this… A new scale. The old one I had I loaned out and not positive to whom and really it was an older one so this one is so cool. This is thin, sleek and once I got the batteries in there right the digital read out was excellent. Take a peek.

Now if you’d like one, here’s the link to it and it was under $35.00 for the scale. So well worth it’s money.

Food scale

The other item I got was this cool Pedometer. Here’s the link to that in case you want one.

Pedometer

Look at this. It’s so thin and it’s made to sit in the pocket and it works wonderful.

It has more then the clock and step counter, it also does calories, stop watch and distants.

So while I’m at it, I also received a CSN gift code for helping them promote their site and was able to get two more goodies. I just love CSN.

I got this for our up coming BWCA trip. It’s so light weight and it says fits one but is big enough for two as long as we don’t tip the scales at more then 300 lbs.

Sorry this pictures is so little. I didn’t open it up to take a picture so used the one on their site.

Here’s the link if you want it.

Hammock

And last but not least is my favorite item. I got a Heart Rate watch. Oh it was so simple to program and to use. It’s right up my alley and I use it each time at the gym and also when I walk and bike out here.

Here’s the link for my favorite toy.

Heart Rate Monitor

Everything I can use and everything I love. You just can’t beat it and to just go shopping around at CSN is an experience you won’t regret. This is also the place I got Brenda’s exercise shoes and mine too. Check them out if you haven’t already.

Here’s the link to their main site… CSN Stores

I hope you all are having an excellent day today. It’s cold, windy and on the verge of a snowstorm here. 10-12” with 40mph winds. BURR!!! Spring is suppose to be here but it’s Minnesota and we know we still have this storm and possible one more before it really starts to thaw. But look what I found yesterday…

Pussy willows. Not lots out there, in fact almost none but a start.

Take care my friends and God bless you all!!!

Jon, he’s number one!!!!

2011-03-19T23:39:00.001-05:00

Jon is one of my wee ones in daycare. You’ve met him before but today I have to tell you I was so very, very proud of him. Jon is in wrestling and I haven’t had a chance to go see him wrestle but today was his last tournament so I had to go and see. WOW!!! For a first grader he is impressive. Watching all the kids was great but of course seeing “my” own was so cool. If you haven’t ever gone to something like this, you have to. You just do. Anyways, I didn’t take my camera but out came the trusty cell phone and I got some pretty decent pictures. Here I’ll show you…

Jon placed 2nd place and this means he made it to State and April 9th is wrestling in Grand Rapids.

Good job Jon. I am so very, very proud of you!!!

I just had to share this wonderful young man with you.

*******************************************************************************************

Now before I just leave this post with Jon and his brother and sister seeing it I’ll share something of theirs too. We go to the library almost every Wednesday and they have such a blast there. Here’s a few pictures of Story Time.

So there you have it. A daycare post and a proud daycare mama. I hope you all have an awesome, relax and blessed weekend.

My find…

2011-03-17T13:45:00.001-05:00

Today after my workout I stopped in Deerwood at the Mustard Seed Thrift shop and found some really cool things. First I have to tell you about Kim. Kim is the most talented woman I have ever known. She is always doing something and the things she makes are awesome. Sometimes I want to do what she does and other times I’m just in awe that she can do these things. Well she painted this the other day… Here's the post...

And ever since see this I have wanted to give it a shot. She says it takes patience and time and both of them are not my most greatest assets but I want to try. So I found this at the thrift shop.

I love the little legs and a great thing, they screw off so I’ll be able to sand all the paint off. It was a whole .98 so if I screw up it won’t be terrible and since it’s wooden if I do screw up I’ll sand it down and bring it to Kim’s so she can help me.

I also got these too. I spent less then $5.00 for it all and I have ideas for all of the goodies. The little tote is a waterproof bag that I’m going to put my undergarments in for working out. I hate going shopping after working out in damp under things so I figured this would be a great thing to use. The placemats and napkins, well they were so spring I just had to get them. I don’t use placemats for like eating on but I love them under stuff. And the Easter chicken…well we use to have one that worked until Hannah tried to ride it like a horse. Now it still sings, it just doesn’t hop around like it use too. So now I have two noise makers with one that just sings and one that sings and hops.

Last night I went for a walk. You know about my Life Style Journey so you know that I’m trying my best to become the better me, healthier me. Well since I couldn’t get to the gym my daddy and I went for a walk. I went the first 2.5 miles alone because I need to do some running too. Then the second half daddy came with me.

And the boys brought out the 4-wheeler and dirt bike to sorta join us and play.

This journey of mine has been a great blessing in lots of ways. For me over 50 lbs lost, for daddy and I, a great way to just connect and be together. Daddy has even joined the gym and will go with me a couple times a week to walk, bike and swim. For the boys, it’s teaching them that there is more fun outside the house then always in and that cake, cookies and donuts are not the only things that taste good. It’s been an exciting point in my life and a huge learning experience too.

Oh I have one more great thing to share. I got my birthday present from Jim last night. Oh my birthday isn’t for another month plus but he put this box on the table and said I could either stare at it until my birthday or open it. There is no way that I’m going to let a box just sit there so here is what I got.

It is so neat to be able to print my own pictures whenever I want too. They print for about .12 cents a print and my local Wal-greens charge .9 cents plus I had to go get them. For .3 cents and the convenience of having it here. I’m happy!!

So there you have it. The Life of Riley. Now it’s onward and upwards to whatever this afternoon holds. I’m off today so it just might hold nothing, maybe just a relaxing afternoon. Then again, my desk area blew up and I have lots of filing and junk I should get done. But it’s also quiet and rainy outside, a prefect do nothing afternoon. We’ll see. I’m sure I’ll do something.

Take care my friends and have an awesome and blessed afternoon!!

Meet Pop-corn…

2011-03-15T15:15:00.001-05:00

Yesterday about 2:30 I got a frantic call from Mark telling me Peanut was having problems and he needed me to come and help him pull a kid.

Peanut is a goat, first time mama. Mark is my uncle, the goat farmer and a kid…well that’s Pop-corn.

Mike and Scott were here so I was able to leave right away and when I got to Marks the mama was beginning to become distressed and we thought for sure the baby was dead. Well with some pushing, pulling, squeezing and some fluids Peanut gave birth to a live and very beautiful little boy. When I help Mark he lets me name the kids and I picked Pop-corn. Peanut and Pop-corn. Sounds so good and perfect to me.

So without anymore words….meet Peanut and Pop-corn.

While visiting today we also got to help feed the other goats, Charlie the donkey and their horse.

So that took most of our morning. What better way to spend a somewhat drizzle morning then in a barn with animals that love the love and attention that we all give them.

Now I learned something last night. We have flying squirrels. I know of them but never knew we had them. For us this has been the year for squirrels. Usually between the cats and dogs we don’t have them but Wilbur is more of a fox hound and is forever spending his time in the woods keep them a bay and Bobby, the Monster Kitty, only watches them. Here’s our night visitor.

So there is our first part of the week. It’s never dull here and the kids are always learning something new and interesting. With spring in the air we are spending more and more time outside getting very, very wet with all the melting snow. Soon mud season, I’m sorta ready for it, tired of the snow so it’s time.

Take care my friends and have a blessed and awesome afternoon.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

2011-03-11T22:10:00.001-06:00

Monday my first daycare child turns 11. She’s been here since she was 3 months old. Just a wee little peanut and now she’s not such a wee one anymore. Being my first one she holds a very special place in my heart and in Mike’s also. They have grown up together and for 11 years have celebrated their birthdays together. Well this year I told her since it was just the two of them (her sister and her) here for the day I’d take them swimming and we’d have just a cake for her. She almost cried when I said that, she told me she has always shared her birthday with Mike’s and how could I not do them together again. I thought just maybe she didn’t want to do that so was just going to give her, her own day. Well that wasn’t going to happen in her book. She loves Mike as much as he loves her and it shows when both are together.

So today we did just that. First daddy and I took them swimming. Since there is no way I’m taking a camera near water (I have bad things happen when I do that and I can’t afford another one) I didn’t get any play pictures but I got this when we were done and dropping daddy at home. Speaking of daddy. Rachel and Abby have called my daddy grandpa since they could talk, well all my kids call him grandpa. So when we dropped off grandpa they got out of the car and gave him a huge hug. Look at his face…

When we got back home the girls baked and decorated the birthday cake. Both Rachel and Mike love angel food cake with fudge sauce on it so that is what they got.

9+9+clown=19 and 4+5+2 clowns=11 ……

I made this for Rachel. She loved it. I filled it with body mist, hand lotion, gum and a mood bracelet.

We also went to see the baby goats and got to hold and love them. And then Mike finished their day out with a ride on the inner tube and snowmobile.

So there you have it. My wee ones are growing up. My own and my real own. I love them all, from the bottom of my heart guys, I LOVE YOU!!!

Have a blessed weekend everyone. I’m off and get to do a bit of working out, house cleaning and relaxing. Oh shopping too but just for groceries. Take care my friends.

Lent…

2011-03-09T14:07:00.002-06:00

Okay, I’m not Catholic or Lutheran or any one of those religions that practice Lent but years ago I just thought what better way to give back to Jesus for what he did for us then give up something for him for 40 days. I’ve done lots of different things from giving up certain foods, to no TV, to devotions and other stuff but I’ve been sitting here today (well sitting isn’t exactly what I’m doing, it’s been a busy day) trying to think what I want to do. All day today in my mind I keep saying I need to meditate on this problem. I need to meditate on seeing what the Lord has for ideas. I took the kids to the library today and even checked out a book called “Meditations For WOMEN Who Do Too Much”. It’s for the busy mind, for the mind that won’t shut up and let a person meditate.

Anyways, I got the point Lord, I know what I need to do I need to learn to meditate. I need to learn to sit quietly for 10 minutes a day and not think or do anything. Now I know nothing about meditation. I am reading the book “Eat, Pray, Love” and that lady in there is trying to find her center, trying to find what makes her tick. I think that is what got me started thinking about this in the first place. I find it hard to sit still. I find it hard to just pray without a million other ideas rolling around in my head. I read somewhere about a woman’s mind is never still, never thinking about one subject, never just stopping to reflect, relax and rejuvenate. Well not all women because I know of some that can sit and be at peace. Some that can close their eyes and just focus on one thing. It’s not me but I am going to try.

So for my 40 days of Lent, I am giving the Lord my mind in Meditation 10 minutes each day. It’s not long I know but if I can start out with 10 minutes and learn to just shut up and listen, well I bet in time I can do it more. I can really just let the Lord do the talking and not interrupt him all the time with 10 million other ideas running around in my mind.

No matter your status in religion don’t you think giving something back to the Lord is a good idea? How just a reason to do something that’s good for you for 40 days in a row.

Just my ideas and thoughts rolling out there for you to see and think about too. Wish me luck…well that’s not really right…it’s not luck I need, it’s more, wish me the wisdom to learn to do this.

Take care my friends. God Bless you all!!