Well, I already made the tomato relish and have the cucumbers in the brine for the  kosher dills.   Going to be busy today. 

I texted a friend about the house we looked at yesterday and she said she knew the owners and they are really desperate to sell so they will probably take my bid.  Yeah!  Plus, she is also friends with the lady who has the very large greenhouse south of where I am moving.  And, she thinks she can help me get a good deal on some fruit trees, rose bushes, and some decorative bushes.  I would love to do some trading, if possible.  

Okay, pickling today and sorting material to see what I need for fall clothes for the granddaughter. I need to get her some little fall and winter jumpers made and some little shirts and pants.  I bought a huge supply of material last year because it went on sale so I shouldn't need to buy too much in terms of material.  I still have some very nice corduroy.  I also wanted to see what kind of material I had for making my daughter's quilt.  Probably not nearly enough. LOL

Breakfast today was loaded oatmeal and I ate about 1 cup with 1/4 cup of toasted walnuts and pecans mixed. 

Lunch: Avocado sandwich with garden fresh tomatoes

Dinner: Beans, okra, and corn on the cob

Snack: Watermelon

Speaking of watermelons.  My daughter planted some in her garden and they have done okay but not really great.  Well, I was down on the farm a while back and I was pulling some vines away from the chicken house and I found a huge cluster of watermelon vines loaded with baby melons. I asked my daughter if she planted the watermelon seeds so close to the chickens and she said, no way but she had thrown a watermelon rind out there for her chickens..her chickens free range during the day.  Apparently, there were some seeds that took propagated and now she has one of the healthies****ermelon garden I've ever seen.  Yesterday, she cut the first ripe one off the vine and it was the sweetest thing ever.  I'd say she has about fifty watermelons about to ripen within the next few days. I see a watermelons for sale sign in her near future. LOL

Ladies, have a good Monday.

Hey Julia and All,

I made a trip to the Rivervalley to look at another house. I sort of like it the best, so we are meeting with the real-estate lady on Wed., and we are making an offer and since we are paying ca****hink she will happily take it. I hope so. 

We brought the grands back up the mountain with us and now I'm washing the mattress pads and sheets off of our bed and off of the little bed in the other bedroom  

It has rained off and on here today, which cooled everything off a bit.  

Breakfast for me was veggies and scrambled eggs (about 1/2 to 3/4th cups)

I didn't eat lunch because we were looking at the house.  

For dinner, we took the kids to a buffet place and I had a few shrimp, a catfish fillet, and 1/2 of a baked sweet potato.  I tried to eat a roll and it was just too doughy and I knew it would mess with my pouch...

I am snacking now on watermelon and cantaloupe.  

Tomorrow I am going to make more pickles and more relish. I've also got a sack full of peppers that I am going to pickle. 

My daughter asked me to make her a quilt.  She and her husband cut down some large cedars over on our old farm and the lumber yard guy made them into wood and charged them half of the wood so for each piece of lumber my daughter got, the mill guy got one.  Those old cedars were huge so she got enough lumber to build another room on to the farm and it's all made of cedar. It smells so good in there.  Her husband made her a cedar chest too and I told her I would pay him to make me one but she had to tell me he actually made me one but was going to give it to me for Christmas. LOL...so she said, since we are giving you such a good present, could you make me a quilt for my new bed, so I said sure.  We found a pattern so I'm making her that. I cannot wait to get started. I think I'm going to invest in a quilting machine. They aren't that expensive and since I have all this time now...you know?

Well, ladies, let me get my clothes folded.  

Tomorrow we all get back to work...we have tons to do 

Hi All,

I meant to start the thread last night but forgot. I'm needing to get back to posting. I got into a great groove and was having lots of success, but now that I've been not posting I'm starting to falter. I can get right back on the horse now since I haven't gained back more than a pound. 

Today I tutor as I do every Sunday. I'm also trying to organize and get rid of things that I don't need in my craft room. I have a very good crafting friend that was just diagnosed with ALS so I know that I need to get things in a more manageable space...she has so much "stuff" and now she has no ability to use any of it...I am going to help her make Christmas cards this year, which she really wants to do. I have a Misti tool which I can help her to use to stamp a lot of images by just moving the panel. Of course I will need to load each piece of card stock for her, but she will be doing part of the process. Her paralysis is progressing so quickly that I'm thinking this will be her last Christmas. It is a difficult thing to watch. We are so lucky to be able to do so many things with our bodies that we take for granted. 

My food plan:

Breakfast: one quarter of a veggie omelet with a few pieces of potato

Lunch: green salad with cheese and nuts

Dinner: leftover Chinese Mongolian Beef plus some chow mein

Snacks: watermelon and mixed nuts

Hugs to everyone!

Julia

Linda,

Other than going to Yellowstone, we only visited one other significant thing and that was the Wild Bill Cody Museum, which is a part of the Smithsonian and it was well worth the money we spent.  Go see it. 

Love the story... Hurry up... Write more...