Why all the hub bub bub?

My friends it is so cold and windy in Ohio right now. We are even having snow showers!!!!!!

I thought I was ready for winter but I'm not. I don't want to deal with the cold.

I like sunshine and warm weather. Gray and cold makes me sad.

But I have plans on crocheting up some really bright items for my home to help with my winter blues

(if I can get over this dreaded crochet block)

I have some pictures to show you!

The first is my kiddos this past Thursday. Our town holds Trick or Treat the Thursday before Halloween.

The weather was nice and warm so the kiddos didn't have to cover their costumes!

Here you can see Hope as the scary killer pumpkin (many kids were scared of her which thrilled her to pieces), Faith was a mime, Sj was Jason from Friday the 13th movies, and Eddie was a ninja!

Aren't they so cute.

Here is a picture of Sj climbing the door jams. Ever one of my kids developed this talent. You can also see the progress I am having with restoring the wood work around my door.

My hubby and I took a drive out to the lake last week while the kiddos were in school. Here a just a few of the tons of pictures I took while we were there.

The last picture wasn't from the lake. It is actually one of the many hills that surround the Cemetery that my Grandparents are buried in. This is their view. It is a lovely old cemetery. 

This weekend has been super emotional and hard for our family. Friday especially. My mom had sent me a text asking me to come to sit with her at her house. Her brother who lives in Georgia found out last July that he has cancer. It is very aggressive and at this point he is being moved to a hospice center. There is no more they can do for him. My mom had already made two trips from Ohio to Georgia and now she is down there again. She just wants to make sure that everything is set for his passing and she wants to be there for him. The lady he has been with forever is still in denial and believes he will recover. It is a very sad situation.

Also on Friday, we found out that a dear friend and fellow Church member of ours (the husband of the woman who introduced us to our wonderful church) passed away suddenly. It has been such a shock! The live just around the corner from us. We had seen him Thursday night while out trick or treating. He made a special baggie of candy for our kiddos. He was laughing and cutting up. Then around 2 Am that morning he suffered a heart attack and passed around 3:30am. I just can't imagine what his wife, mom, brother, and sister are going through. 

His funeral service was last night with a graveside service today. It sure makes you think about how short life really is and how you or anyone that you love can be taken from you with just a blink of an eye. To see my dear friend so sad from losing her husband....I have no words that can provide the feelings.

I know it has made me open my Bible a lot, it has made me question if I am ready to go...if I am ready to face my Lord. It has made me hold my husband and kids even tighter.

Ahem, a little deep I know. 

My friends I want to ask you to please pray for my friend's family, the Everhart family. I ask you pray for my family as we will be burying a loved one soon as well. I also ask you pray for those who are being affected by that enormous storm out on the East Coast.

Thank you loyal readers.

Be Blessed

Erin

Hello my friends.

I just wanted to do a quick check in.

It really bothers me when I don't blog regularly.

We have so much going on at the moment.

I am completely worn out.

I thought I would give you this little update.

First, we are still trying to get our furnace replaced. 

We are have to turn in papers to our local community action on Monday.

They help people with winterization and emergency heat type stuff.

We are hoping they will come and winterize our house for us

(put in some insulation and do the doors and windows)

We also hope they will provide a new furnace.

I have also spoken with my dad. He has been a home owner for ages.

He doesn't mind helping me make sure I get the best deals

on home repairs.

He has spoken with a heating and cooling guy he knows

and 

this guy can replace our furnace with half the cost of 

a local company.

I totally trust my dad with these things so if we don't meet

the guidelines for Community Action, we will be paying out of pocket.

Secondly, I have been doing work at our local church.

Each year a group called Karen's Kids gives out Christmas gifts

to needy kids in our and surrounding communities.

They also provide sets of clothes to a school nearby which hosts

many kids who don't have decent clothing or shoes.

I have been helping the organizers get the clothing organized by size and gender.

We will be pulling out the toys very soon and will be bagging up these toys and clothes

for most of November. I love volunteer work.

Thirdly, I am taking care of my mom's dog. I have to go to her home

and take him out and check her house several times a day.

She and my step-father have made an emergency trip to Georgia to see 

my Uncle Buster. He is in the hospital.

He was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in July and is going downhill rapidly.

Things aren't looking too good with him. We are pretty sure it is down to 

"when" he is going to pass on, not "if".

I ask that you please keep us in your prayers.

On top of all these things I am still trying to maintain my neat and tidy house.

I am failing miserably at the moment. Today I have spent most of my day

resting on the couch as we have been nonstop lately.

Hmmm...I wonder if there is anything else........

Oh yes, we did manage to get some amazing deals yesterday 

while out shopping. Our local Pamida department store is closing its doors.

A Shopko is moving in soon but the Pamida store has to sell out of its merchandise.

We were able to get 4 twin sized and 1 queen sized air mattress for camping

and we picked up some sheets just for these mattresses, some baseball

gloves for the kiddos, and a few other things for about $150. 

Not too bad huh!

Well I do need to go now. I have some chores to finish up 

and I will need to go to my mom's house soon.

I will try to post more frequently.

Be Blessed

Erin

Weekend Randomness

Hello again. I just wanted to pop by and show you all how my weekend went.

First, we enjoyed some family time watching movies with the kiddos.

Don't you just love the two little photo bombers there.

Oh and don't forget that loving look my hubby is giving me.

Saturday I made divinity. I used the recipe out of Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible.

Here are the egg whites nice and fluffy stiff.

Here is the sugar, corn syrup, and water boiling away. 

Here are the rest of the ingredients.

 Wouldn't you know it! I forgot to take pics of the finished product...but...you can see pictures and the recipe by clicking the hyperlink.

I had to make this divinity for a good friend's baby shower. She is expecting  a little girl after having 3 boys.

Here she is in front of her pressies and with her plate of food.

(You can see the gift I gave her in this blog post.)

Here are some of the Hello Kitty Cupcakes. Isn't is just adorable.

A view of the baby's room. She will have a nice bright green dresser next to this stripey wall.

She painted this tree mural all herself. She has drawn in an owl on one of the limbs but it is hard to see in this pic.

Yesterday was super windy here and my kiddos had a blast playing in all the leaves that had fallen and were falling. They would rake the leaves into a pile and then jump and throw the leaves and scatter them around again. Here is a very cool pic of a bunch of leaves trapped in our chain link fence.

Other than going to church that sums up our weekend.

I am hoping to have a finished crochet object so show soon. Oh and the end of the season harvest as well.

Until we meet again

Be Blessed

Erin

Fall In the Garden

My garden looks pretty pitiful right now. I need to get out there and clear out all the dead plants.

I need to amend my soil and get it ready for winter.

But I just can't bring myself to pulling out all those living plants!

In my front yard around my shepherd's hook I have these beautiful impatients. My mom gave these to me because she had bought too many. These plants have lasted through 2-3 frosts and 1 hard freeze!

Garden bed 1 is pretty bare. There is 2 huge marigold plants, 2 squares of chives, and a mortgage lifter tomato plant hanging on even after the cold temps we have been having.

Garden bed 2 is a huge mess. I still have tons of tomatoes and tomato flowers on these plants. 

I also have lots of peppers and pepper flowers on my plants.

Bed 3 has a couple of pepper plants, a couple of egg plants, and what is left of my Kentucky Wonder Pole beans. These beans made me so happy this summer. I alternated squares of beans and cucumbers and I had tons of each. We had to give tons away!

Broccoli loves cooler weather. This beautiful broccoli plant is as tall as I am!

I planted one birdhouse gourd start around my gazebo. This is it. It has wrapped itself around my gazebo and has climbed up another of my shepherd's hooks.

This is just one of the three gourds that is in this jumbled heap of vines. I am really hoping to find one more so each of my kids will have one to decorate next summer when they are dried out.

Finally, here is my container garden on my back deck. I have spinach, carrots, lettuces, various herbs, and various mints all growing in these containers.

Well that is a tour of my garden. I am planning on getting out there and clearing it out and getting stuff ready for next growing season.

I am planning on redoing my garden beds as the wood surrounding mine is rotting away.

AND I already have my beds planned out. I know what will be planted where! I can't wait!

Until next time,

Be Blessed

Erin

What's Up with this Cold

My friends I wanted to stop by briefly before the medicine kicks in.

I have been battling a cold since last Monday....a whole week now.

You know the kind of cold I am talking about!

It starts out with a little bit of a stuffy nose and a scratchy throat.

Almost like when you sleep with the window or your mouth wide open.

Then it gets worse.

It turns into a stuffy head and a sore throat.

After this stage I felt like I was getting better

BUT

The dreaded coughing started.

At first it was due to my sinuses.

The coughing wasn't that bad.

BUT NOW

My throat is trying to heal. 

It is itcy so I cough.

Then as I cough it gets raw.

Then that makes me cough more.

I was up all night last night coughing.

I tried every cough medicine we had in our medicine cabinet.

Around 7 this morning I tried the liquid Tylenol Cold medicine.

That stuff FINALLY helped.

I slept from 8 until 10:30 this morning.

So my plan for today.

I have already consumed my lunch and have taken another dose of the cold meds.

So I will finish watching the Noon News 

then I will probably spend the rest of my day dozing on the couch.

Until I type again.

Be Blessed

Erin

The Good with the Bad

Today has been one of those days. 

It seems that it started off wonky and just kept going sideways.

But I did find some good.

The Good:

The sunset was gorgeous!

The Bad:

Since winter is approaching fast, we decided to go ahead and get our furnace checked out.

The HVAC guy came today and did some vacuuming and gave us a little background that the previous HVAC guy (from another company) did not give us.

1. Our furnace was made in the 1960s

2. Parts are not available.

3. Everything looked good with it.

4. The furnace is costing us tons of money because of the way it is made.

The very bad:

The carbon monoxide test sucked! Our furnace put out 10 parts per million of carbon monoxide.

That is enough to make a sensitive person sick.

We need a new furnace.

It is going to cost between $2000-$2500 for the furnace+ labor

We don't have any kind of money like that.

The weather is supposed to turn COLD for the next few days!

So we are buying a couple of heaters for the house.

I'm not sure how we are going to get a new furnace. I just know that we need lots of hopes and prayers right now. We need to have a new furnace installed in our home before the temperatures drop to freezing. 

The good and the bad.

Be Blessed

Erin

Tis Fall

My friends I want to show you something.

Do you remember me mentioning about the fern my mom decided to let die last year?

She said she couldn't stand how it would drop its leaves during the cooler months so she decided to just set the fern out on her porch in the cool weather and let it die. Well this fern came from a funeral I believe and it was absolutely beautiful and full.

I had to rescue it! This picture is how it looked once I removed it from the pot it was in, cleared out all the dead stuff and repotted it. It looks pretty pitiful.

Once repotted, I placed this fern in my bathroom because I read that it liked humidity. It did in fact like the bathroom. Then late this spring as the weather turned warmer and more humid, I set the fern out on my front porch where it will be exposed to a little late sunshine and will be able to absorb the humidity. I have to admit I neglected it quite a bit and didn't water it very much. So I am quite surprised of how it looks now.

See, this fern has survived and is filling out quite nicely. I will more than likely move it back to the bathroom once the cold weather strikes here. I am just so happy I was able to save this plant!

Yesterday afternoon I was feeling a little bit better (my fever had went away) and the temps outside were rather warm so I decided to take the kiddos for a walk around our neighborhood and snap some photos as we went.

I wanted to capture how our neighborhood is changing as fall arrives. 

The leaves on top of this tree are just starting to turn yellow.

The tree you see here is by the hospital in my town. I love how one side is turning a pinky orange color and the other side remains green.

My youngest child set this photo up for me. I think he has a good eye!

This was a wheelchair ramp we walked past. It has a lot of luscious greenery all around it.

Beautiful color on this bush.

I'm pretty certain this tree's leaves will be turning red.

Here you can see the side of the Methodist Church a few blocks from my home. It dates back to the 1800s

.

This picture is the other side of the church. It has beautiful stained glass windows.

The kiddos told me I had to show you all how this part of the church looks like a castle.

Those clouds look ominous don't they. Well we only felt two or three rain drops on our head! 

This is one of my favorite streets in my town. I love how the trees form an archway over the road.

This street also has some really beautiful houses. It just looks so serene.

A nice pic of the kids. You can see Hope (my oldest) in front. She is definitely a leader. Faith (#2) is in the grey and bright green striped shirt. She is my girly girl. Sj  (#4) is on the skateboard. He is all boy. He loves to annoy and play jokes on people. And Eddie (#3) carrying his Nerf Gun. He is very independent and marches to his own drum. By the way, he brought the gun to protect us:)

We happened to walk by this tree and I saw this yellow leaf surrounded by the green and had to show you!

Finally, a pic of my kiddos sitting on the Church steps. They are growing up too fast for my liking.

How was that? Did you enjoy our little stroll around the neighborhood?

Oh wait, I forgot to introduce you all to another family member.

This adorable little male kitty showed up one day and hasn't left since.

He has made himself at home. We call him Pedro.

Well that ought to do it for now. I hope to drive over to Bainbridge this weekend and grab some pictures of the hillsides as the leaves are changing. The 3rd weekend of this month is their annual "Fall Festival of Leaves". I hope we get to go this year!

Until we meet again

Erin