Loose Ends

I feel disoriented. Discombobulated. Antsy. Is that a word? I felt it yesterday too and it didn't put on its boots and ride outta here. There's a thought that keeps haunting the farthest recesses of my mind. Am I pregnant? It's just a slight disturbance. Not that I wouldn't mind havin another ornery scally-wag around here but I'd like more time to get my mind in it, if it's gonna happen.

Wyatt has really pulled the noose on sanity this week. He has taken to whinin and cryin about piddly little things. He's been tattle-talin a lot too. 'Mama, (my cousin) said, 'Uh-uh' to me.' That's what you're gonna come whine to me about? Funny, cuz just the other day you got in trouble for sayin the same thing to one of your cousins. My, how things are twisted! Jd's been a little on the crusty side too. Not sure if it's some more teeth comin in or that he's a little under the weather. The last 3 or so nights I've felt like we were back in his 3-6 month old stage of absolutely-nothin-and-no-one-but-mama-can-make-me-stop-cryin. Okay, I'll be fair. It was from 2-7 months. No joke. I'm no smilin, either.

I have toilets to clean, clothes to pack, camp supplies to pack, recipes/ingredients to prep and pack. There are chocolate chip cookie bars in the oven! That's good news, huh? I also have cinnamon rolls on the way. They'll be done in about 5 hours if I'm lucky. The pool is half drained too!

I can almost say that I abhor loose ends. Okay, I can say I abhor them. It doesn't make me feel as incompetent as I thought. Or lazy. Or low-life. Anyway, I don't like loose ends. Especially when all the loose ends have to be done by Friday because of our FIRST EVER FAMILY VACATION! We are goin to the Jasper area in Arkansas! Log cabin. Food cooked over fire. Perculated coffee every mornin, sipped from the back deck that overhangs the crick. Family. No cell phones. Bear. Wildlife. Family. (We're goin with my Aunt and Uncle.) I. Can't. Wait.

Well, 6.5 hours later it is, now. I've swathed the backyard (because the grass needed it that bad).



Free to anyone: 10 square bales of rich wet mix (weeds, crab grass, marigolds, buffalo grass, and maybe some bermuda) fertilized by ammonia only (yes, the au natural kind. Pee is as natural as ammonia can get!)



I'm sorry, babe, I did NOT break out the weed-eater. I should have. But I didn't.



And I absolutely refused to even mess with the west side of the yard.



That's alright. We have neighbors that don't seem to care. I think. I hope.

The small pool is drained. I wasn't payin close enough attention and mud bug (a.k.a. JD) crawled in the small pool and was playin in 4" deep water. Great. That was is 3rd set of clothes today. Wyatt decided it looked fun and just sat down in the pool, too. Poor Addyson met the mud in an accidental slip and fall.

The cinnamon rolls are made. Supper's in the crock pot and I'm ready for a cold tall boy. The boys are rompin around somehow while they're supposed to be sleepin. Oh well, at this point whatever works for them, works for me!

Great! My Internet Explorer just shut down every page and said it wasn't workin! Does anyone else use Photobucket and have they wondered if it creates problems like I do?

Okay, this was JD's second set of clothes today.



Yes, they are dark jeans, but make no mistake, they are soaked thru and thru, back to front and front to back!



He also played in the dogs water bucket, of which I had JUST scrubbed and filled up early this mornin. Figures! He added grass and dirt. He has yet to convince the pups that it tastes better like that. They ain't buyin it.







Here's the florette on my hen and chicks:





This is the first time in the years upon years that I've had this kind of plant produce 'flowers', if you will.

The other day, we watched a cicada come out of his old house!





When he saw me takin pictures so close to him he turned around. I'm pretty sure he thought I was the tree. I'm not so sure to take that as a compliment or be disturbed by it. He kept reachin out to grasp the camera.



Hey there, little feller! I ain't yer mama! Sorry!





Poor guy. He was fightin a wind up his back that kept bendin his wet wing.



I grabbed a stick and gave him a lift to a notch in the tree and he took off climbin.





Hope you have a good long life and my dogs don't catch ya and eat ya! Cuz they do that, I'm afraid! Stay away from the lights! They're bad news! And stay away from birds! They'll eat ya too! And remember to change your underwear every day! Drink lots of water! Be seein' ya! Happy trails to you!

Poor Little Baby

Yesterday, I ran downstairs to switch laundry out. When I came back up I heard this far away pitiful sound. This is what I found. The older kids had shut the sliding glass door when they came in just a minute before JD decided he wanted in. Poor little baby! (I'll admit, I was glad they did shut the door because JD was caked in mud.)







We had an awesome meal last night of bbq'd pork;

Compliments to E and Uncle Mike.

Baked taters topped with sour cream and garden chives;

And all kinds of roasted peppers stuffed with cream cheese and bacon bits.

Talk about gut-wrenchingly good. It was really hard to keep from heapin more on our plates.

Talkin bout gut-wrenchingly good...look at this.



Hmmmmm......Look at that Cross Bones...and y'all thought I was talkin bout the man. Shame on you. For shame, for shame, for shame. Actually, I was talkin bout the man. Not the bike. I know the man was thinkin bout the bike though. Poor little baby! Keep dreamin on that one! Dreams do come true. One day, I'm not opposed to it, one day. Just remember, it's either gonna be a two-seater or a double loan. It's all up to you!

Ha ha bwah ha ha!!

Signin out,
Ornery and In-Deep-Trouble-For-This-One

Blueberry Jello

I've been meanin to post recipes before, but I just haven't got around to it, til now. This recipe is a family favorite. The ingredients can be somewhat of a turn-off to many but I'm tellin ya now, it tastes NOTHIN like you'd think it would, so just give it a try!

For starters, you need 2 of the 3 oz boxes of grape jello, 2 Cups of boiling water, 1 can of blueberry pie filling, 1 can of crushed pineapple, 1 9 by 13 inch dish or the equivalent, like 2 pie dishes.



Dissolve jello in 2 cups of boiling water. Add pineapple (in this case I forgot and bought chunked, so I ran it through the mini-food processor) and blueberry pie filling to jello. When I make 2 pans of this, I pour the jello in the pans first, to make sure each pan has even amounts, then I divide the pineapple and blueberry pie filling evenly among each pan also.



Refridgerate until set. Last Saturday, because it was late, I made up the jello base and threw the pans in the fridge overnight to set, then early Sunday morning I made the topping and put them back in the fridge so the topping would have the length of hours needed to set before it would be devoured. (This dish is ALWAYS devoured).

In a saucepan, melt 16 (or in my case, 19) large marshmallows, in 1/4 C milk.



Let cool and add frozen cool whip and one small carton of cottage cheese.



You won't believe it but the cottage cheese really makes this dish. It adds a perfect blandness, if you will, that tones down what would be the too sweet flavors of all the other ingredients.



Then, because you made two pans and only one of them is goin to a party, feel free to eat half the second pan with your eldest son, before lunch time, because you know, this is much better than any protein your son could eat for lunch! And, one more thing, don't feel guilty about it!!

I'll bet this guy doesn't feel guilty about indulging in a little too much bird seed he finds in someone's backyard! Go for it!

Biscuits 'N Gravy Gets Me More Love Than You Can Shake a Stick At

And bacon gets me an extra extra lotta love. It's true-the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. But I ain't talkin bout a man this time. I'm talkin about our first-born son.

I made biscuits and gravy one stormy night this past week. Wy took his first bite and said, 'Mmmmm, thanks mom.' Then, as an afterthought, he added, 'Good cookin, mama.' This 'good cookin' compliment has become as much a part of our meals like bread and butter is to a supper table. E got him started on it months and months ago. Daddy doesn't even get to say it first anymore. Wy almost always beats him to the punch.

Then Wyatt said to me, after chewin thoughtfully on a hunk of Jimmy Dean sausage drowned in gravy, 'Mama, you make me feel happy.'

Blast it! Hold the phones and stop the presses! Here and again, I just wanted to grab him, smother him with kisses and hugs and never let him grow-which would mean no more food, which in turn, would mean no more compliments, the whole of which I could simply not bear! So, I guess I'll feed him and let him grow, and taxi him around to this and that, and go off to college, and move out, and get a....a....what are those things called?....fake smile, high-pitched chatter boxes with makeup plastered on so thick a pitch fork couldn't take it off? Oh, yeah, 'scuse me, a girlfriend. Yeah, I guess that will eventually have to come. But you better believe good 'n well, I'm gonna enjoy ever-single-lovin, tear-inducin, heart-swellin compliment that I ever ever ever get from my men.

And if ever I don't hear that compliment, I just want y'all to know that my body is immediately overcome with anxiety. I hyper-ventilate. My knees start shakin and my heart palpitates. Do they not like this meal? I made it three weeks ago and they chowed down! Is it too salty? Too crusty? Too dry? Too flaky? Too bland? Too spicy?

I'm just kiddin. They'll eat whatever the heck I slap down on a plate! Even if it is day old bread soaked in milk with some beans! They're always grateful! And for that, I'm even more grateful.

The Sun Dance Doesn't Work

Last night we did what all normal people do-'cept those who are a coupla cards short of a full deck: We grilled during impending rainstorms.

My aunt, uncle, cousin AJ, and his girlfriend Jordan were all here. We tried the Sun Dance last night to ward off the rain. It didn't help so much, but at least it was only sprinkles instead of a downpour. I swear there's somethin goin on. Kansas is in some kinda global warming atmospherical phenomenon that keeps dumpin rain in our area. Other places around the world have them and they're called Monsoons, or rainy seasons. I lived in PNG and we had rainy seasons. Never thought I'd see a rainy season in Kansas, of all places.

We had to come up with somethin to save the fire. I had an idea of usin our extra umbrella and the grill-master, for some crazy reason, was complainin because he wouldn't be able to stand under the umbrella. Hey! We don't care if YOU get wet! All we care about is the fire and the chicken you're grillin for us! Now get to work!



Grill he did! That chicken was the best-tastin BBQ'd chicken I know I've ever had! I'm not exaggerating or tryin to make E feel good (although I do like to do that-not exaggerate, but make him feel good). It was GOOD! The chicken had a smoke flavor to it like none other! I guess the rain did us a small favor anyway. We had a good spread of chicken, my roasted/seasoned potatoe cubes and steamed corn. While I was startin the fire, Hoss kept escaping down the driveway. I was out of breath from haulin him back up the drive so many times. We ended up tyin him off to the bumper of the truck so he wouldn't get away. It didn't damper his spirits. He was still just happy to keep tryin.

Easter Fun on Saturday

Our day dawned gorgeous once again! We are spendin it with Aunt D and Uncle Mike (who live just across the road from us) and my cousin Courtney, her husband Chad and son Carson. We have friends comin over for the afternoon/evening. In the smoker right now are two huge tenderloins, a rack of ribs and bacon wrapped chicken stuffed with cream cheese.

For dessert I have made 3 pans of apple dumplings.


I've also made cinnamon rolls for Easter mornin with family.





The boys drove the truck around for a while this mornin:

Aunt D started gettin out her Easter decorations and Wyatt, not bein one to sit around twiddlin thumbs, joined right in.


JD had to get in the fun too:



Aunt D said the tree needed to be decorated:






Geez! Don't mess with him when he's hangin Easter eggs! He's got it handled!
Cousin Carson made it to town and first things first-a ride in the truck!


Then it was egg-dying time:




Showin Daddy his eggs!

Carson dying his eggs:


Time to pack up and go hunt Easter eggs:

Egg Hunt:
Jd hunted from the truck. It's legal to hunt from a truck in these parts ya know, but only if you're in a battery powered vehicle that goes no more 'n 5 mph and you use no firearms:





In case you're wonderin the orange thing around his neck is his safety goggles. I'm not sure why he wore them but they were on all day long.






The dogs are always around for the action.

Each of the boys got some goodies and toys from Uncle Mike and Aunt Rene:

Jd ate one of his eggs:

After all the grub was devoured we sat round the fire and had a good time late into the night.