from where I sit...

View from my chair

Was it really a full week ago when we were basking in the quietness?  The peace of Mansfield seems so far away....

Hubs and I have been crazy busy since we got home, heck I haven't even had time to upload all the photo's I took.  I'd planned to do it yesterday, but the day got away from me.  That seems to happen too much lately.

We gave #2 grand son a lift to work, it sure made me happy to help him out and have some quality conversations with him.  I'm proud of him.  It's hard to believe he's the same little guy that arrived here not so very long ago.  Now he's on the verge of manhood, holding down a job, making great grades and helping my girl out as much as any teenage boy can ever be coaxed to do.

We ran errands for a good part of the day, although we were planning to go do some junking in the afternoon.  I just wasn't up to it. I was simply exhausted.  I think the week finally caught up with me.  My body simply wanted to stop.  Hubs set me up with his nice reclining outside chair and a pillow, my copy of Prairie Girl and I was set to kick back and drift off to sleep.  It was such a beautiful breezy day.  The fresh air out on the deck surrounded by the beautiful trees... all the ingredients of a perfect nap.

Unfortunately, things don't always work out the way we plan, and I am not sitting here in my favorite chair watching the sunrise peak through the trees feeling a few new aches and pains from helping the Hubs fix his car.  I'm a tad more flexible and smaller than Hubs, so I end up twisting and squeezing into tight spots.  I have a few knuckles without skin this morning, but Hubs' car is fixed.  We ended up taking the seat out a couple of times to repair it, but we managed to do it.

As Hubs pulled out his anvil (the very one that I questioned the need to have) his torch and hammer, I will admit to feeling some serious apprehension!  The middle of the month pay day is a bit tight, and I was envisioning a seriously damaged piece of metal.  Silly me.

Hubs grew up shoeing horses and making those beautiful horse shoes.  He's no stranger to heated metal and the use of a torch and hammer to coax it back into shape. It only took a few hours, a few busted knuckles and Hubs getting a bruised knee, seems we aren't as young, flexible or pain resistant as we used to be.

Walking the boys, Hubs saw a neighbor struggling to remove a tree from his yard with a little hacksaw.  Anyone that knows Hubs, knows he has a heart as big as Texas, and will do anything to help someone out.  Handing me Neeko's leash he sprung into action, offering and then heading home for his sawsall.  It took him longer to walk both directions from the house than it did to take down the tree.

While I got the opportunity to be stretched by both boys on the walk, I also got to see grandson #1, only for a moment.  He's another one that I am so very proud of.  Those boys have sure been through the mill, and here he is getting ready to graduate, he and his girlfriend have their own place, and evidently he brought the ducklings over for a visit yesterday.  If I had known I would have gone down to see them myself, they sure did look adorable in the picture my girl sent.

I am guessing in all the hub bub going on at her place (she is getting ready to have a fence put in and rearranging her entire back yard to make it happen, our grand daughter is feeling a bit lonely, as she called us asking if she could come over and hang out.  Gee, that took a nano second to decide.

She's upstairs sleeping off her date night with Gramps!  The two of them went to see Batman v Superman.  I am not a movie person, for the most part, so I backed out of attending.  It was the first time the two of them did a movie solo.  Based on the smiles and laughter, I would say they both needed it!

Gramma needed Pop Corn too, isn't it beautiful?

I was able to use that time to catch up on a few of my chores, not all of them, I will finish those this morning. And I will find time to work on my wanna do list also. Taxes are done, kitchen is clean and supplies for the week prepped. Saturday is usually our "go to market day" and as I am trying to limit our exposure to processed foods I am buying a lot more "ingredients".  As I was filling mason jars with nuts, flours, beans, grains, yeasts etc I was definitely in my element.

Today, I will make peanut butter (The grand and I have had this planned), I want to get my granola bars for the week made.  And work on a menu for the week.  I never did do it down in Mansfield, there was simply too much for me to explore and enjoy.

I also picked up some chicken breasts to make my Gator boy some chicken jerky.  He loves it, and I haven't really made much lately.  He's slowing down, I am fearful that this is his last year with me, and honestly I want to fill his bucket list.

I might run up to the corner market and pick up some ground beef to make people jerky too.  Haven't quite decided on that one.  Depends on how my day goes and if I run out of energy.

My girl got my bike fixed, so we are really considering an afternoon bike ride, It's a beautiful day, it might just have to happen.

I am hoping to get some seeds in the pots on the deck, maybe the silly squirrels won't dig it all up and take it this time.  I am all about planning enough to share, but they don't share.  They dig it up, take a bite and leave it to rot.  That is simply RUDE! I am hoping they do not like the taste of radishes and will leave those alone.  I bought some fabulously tempting seeds - actually probably more than I can plant due to lack of garden space - when we were down in Mansfield.

I have bought seeds many times from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co, always mail order.  It was pure joy to browse the store, if you haven't been there, go!  It's a walk back in time, the selection is incredible and they are the nicest people I have ever met!  I just got my email reminding me of the Spring Planting Festival that is just around the corner.  I wish we could spend both days down there, but I will be a bit busy getting ready for our 25th Annual Charity Golf tournament, so... One day only! This year we are making the trip.  I am fairly sure my little brown Honda is going to have some sheets on the seats so I can bring home treasures!

I bought my girl some of the Glass Gem Corn Seeds, I sure hope she plants them.  She has far more room than I do.  And I am going crazy wanting to see them and try them. I might not have enough patience to be a gardener!

And I need to find time to put together a baby quilt today.  One of the kids (yep, when you are younger than my own children - you are a kid!) that works for me is going to be a first time daddy.  I want to give him something special, he's a great kid and I have been blessed to watch him grow into a man.  Keeping in mind that it is for a baby and will need to be washed often I am going to machine piece and quilt it.

For right now, I think I will sit here in the rising morning light, curled up in my favorite chair, sipping coffee from my Laura Ingalls Wilder cup and relax.  It's not even 8 am after all!

Now where is my copy of Prairie Girl?