Friday, August 29, 2008

They're Home!!!

I wrote about Monday in the last post. I got lots of kosher dill and bread and butter pickles canned.

Tuesday I worked, ran errands for my parents and straightened the house. Tiger had an allergic reaction to Penicillin. Lots of Benadryl and a new prescription of antibiotics.

Wednesday I worked. I closed up the home market. I get the call that my mom's godmother has cancer and is in the hospital.

Thursday I went to the long way farmer's market and sold our produce. I came back to the home market and worked. I had an awful migraine and Aunt Flo had been visiting for over 24 hours. I had to pick the boys up early due to a fall. monkey is okay but his head looks bad. I am feeling quite anemic. I go to the ER late........by myself and get two shots of iron and go by Wal-Mart of restock my iron supplement supply.

Friday I worked and boy did I work. I closed up after a 1o hour day. The parents left Monday for vacation and arrived back home today. Praise the Lord. My brother and I have had all of the responsibility this week and it has been a doozy!

The mower broke down, peaches were to pick and season is not ready to end yet. WE have been to markets, kept the home market running, took care of cattle, did the picking, some fall planting (greens), kept our families going and it rained 5 1/2 inches Monday and Tuesday.

The highlight of my week................seeing that sandalwood colored Cadillac pulling in the drive and feeling my parents arms around me. I am a Momma and Daddy's girl! Thank you Lord for their safe return.

Hope to catch up more soon. I must get up at 4am for another market tomorrow......

Good night, many blessings and sweet dreams......................

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

So True

"Spread love everywhere you go....let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier." Mother Teresa


"It is better to look aheadand prepare than to look back and regret."
Jackie Joyner-Kersee


Just something to think on.

Blessings!!!!!!

Monday, August 25, 2008

Welcome Rain and Not So Welcome News

Well, we have finally gotten some much needed rain. We have been in severe drought conditions for a while. Our peach orchard has only seen 9/10ths of an inch of rain since late May. God has been so good(once again) and provided a crop for us to have a living from. Faye has left 2 inches of rain so far and we expect much more today through Wednesday. Thank you Lord!

The boys have remained sick and Monkey's yeast infection on his bottom is now a Staph infection. They both have sinus infections and Tiger's temp has spiked as high as 103.7! We made another trip to the peds office yesterday and got some more prescriptions. I am keeping Tiger home with me today, in hopes that he stays fever less. I took off from work to make pickles and put up some more peaches before they are completely gone. There are a few other things that I hope to get done as well.

Hubby went back to the orthopedic doctor last Wednesday. They set the surgery up for the 3rd of September. This will be his 3rd surgery on this knee. Please pray for him and the medical team that will be doing the surgery. Also, he has always had a difficult time waking up from anesthesia, so please pray for this as well. We are hoping and praying this surgery will give him some relief from the pain. The doctor seems to think that his knee cap is off tract. Along with cleaning out the scar tissue and the arthritis, they also will shorten some ligaments and tendons and put the knee cap back on tract. They also will be putting some man made cartilage between the bones for some cushioning. We are praying for this to be successful.

I hope you all have a wonderfully blessed day!

Blessings!!!!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Preschool Life

The boys have really gotten the hang of school and are really enjoying it. Their speech is improving and they love their teacher. Monkey is finally trying new foods and finding he like some of them. They are thriving.

It has not been without it's hardships though. They have been attending since around the 1st of July. They have endured a cold, an upper respiratory infection, 2 ear infections, a viral infection, they each have been bitten by another child (Monkey's bit was so severe that it broke the skin) and they AVOIDED the lice outbreak (praise the Lord). Monkey now has a yeast infection on his bottom (due to the antibiotics for the ear infection).

That's enough to do one in........if she didn't have here faith in the good Lord!

They are doing well and their pediatrician thinks this will boost their immune system. So we shall see when they are enrolled next June for preschool. They will only go through October this year.

So, have/do your children attend preschool? What have you found your child most enjoys about it?

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I dedicate this day to one of the most precios men in my life........my Daddy! HE is celebrating his 75th birthday today! HE is so awesome.

Thank you Daddy for always being there for me and showing me the way to go. You mean everything to me and the boys!

Happy Birthday!!!!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Spinach Bean Dip

1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
15 oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 c. sour cream (I used light)
1 - 1.8 oz. pk. vegetable soup mix
1/4 c. milk

Squeeze excess liquid from spinach. Puree beans until smooth. Add other ingredients. Refrigerate a couple of hours or until chilled.

Serve with veggies, crackers or chips.

ENJOY!!!!

Cheesey Onion Dip

This would be a great game day food! We like it anytime. It is so yummy!

1 lg. Vidalia onion, grated
8 oz. sharp cheddar, grated
1 - 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. ground cayenne pepper

I combine all ingredients in my small slow cooker and cook for 6 hours on low heat and then keep warm while eating.

We like this with tortilla chips and crackers.

ENJOY!!!!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Bite Update

Hi girls (and fellows........if there are any). I am feeling some better.....still kind of weak. I am taking strong antibiotics and ibuprofen. My bite itself looks better and the swelling is down. I am so thankful for that. God is so good and I promise if i get worse I will go to a doctor. I am still counting on you all for prayer!

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I have the best bloggy friends!

I worked my regular 10 hours today and also went to the grocery store, pharmacy and post office. Then i came home and cooked breakfast for supper. We had scrambled eggs with cheese, buttermilk biscuits, all beef smoked sausage and sliced peaches and syrup for dessert. I put a pot of coffee on and we called it good!

I am feeling really tired and am ready to call it a night. I hope you all have a great week. I wrote some scheduled posts for this week........so be looking for them!

Oh and the answer to mykidsmom about summer vacation for the school kids. They go early August through late May. They have a 2 week Christmas vacation, a fall break, a four day weekend or sometime 5 for Thanksgiving Spring break and various other holidays. Usually there are some "snow days to be taken toward the end of the year........since we don't get snow in these parts.

Blessings!!!!!!!

The End is Coming

Well, we are nearing the end of peach season. It is a sad time , but an almost near relief. The last few months have been long and tiring.

We are picking two (Flame Prince and White Rose) varieties right now and still have three (Indian Cling, Fairtime and Parade)more to go. The last three may not have enough yield for all of the markets and stores.

With the majority of the apples still a good three weeks away, we may have to stop the markets for a while. That one is still up in the air.

Sales at the home market have slowed a good deal since school has started back (August 7th).
Starting next week I will have a new schedule. I will work at the home market 7:30am-5:30pm, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If the markets (Tuesday and Thursday) are not going on then I will have those days off. I also will work at the home market 2 Saturdays and 2 Sundays a month.

I will miss going to the markets but am ready for a break at the same time. I will continue to work through most of October. We are planning a beach vacation in October. I cannot wait!!!!!

Blessings!!!!!!

The days I will have off will be used to can and freeze for the hard winter ahead.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

I've Been Bitten

Wednesday night I took a long hot bath and went to bed. I got up at 4am Thursday morning to go to the market. On the way to the market I noticed a huge bruise and swelling on the outside of the bottom of my wrist. I felt fine, but look like someone had beat the poop out of my wrist.

Yesterday morning I got up and was not feeling so good, but had to do a community appreciation day at our local bank. I started feeling so bad. I was sick at my stomach and just plain weak. The wrist was looking worse.

MY friend who also happens to be a pharmacist came by and she thought I had been bitten by a spider. She said she would call the doctor and get a prescription from him for me. In the meantime I took some Ibuprofen and did the best I could. My hubby came down and we started closing shop up early (1pm).

In the meantime, the fire chief's wife came by and she is also trained medically. She told me to get to the doctor that it was spider bite and the poison was going into the blood since there was no sign of a head coming up.

Then another friend came by and her Mom had been bitten by a brown recluse last year and it looked just like that. LOVELY!

I then went to the pharmacy and the other pharmacist there saw the bite and freaked out. They started calling all over the county trying to get me an appointment. No luck...... and our local ER is a joke. By now my hand and arm and numb and tingling.

So off Hubby and I went to Urgent care in the next county. I started feeling really bad on the way there, almost like I was going to pass out. I didn't thankfully and we made it. The doctor was a quack and told me either I had been hit or had hit someone! Can you believe his never? Then he asked my husband if he remembered hitting me? MY husband has never even raised his voice to me, much less his hand!

So he tells me if I think it is that bad I could take 2 Benadryl's!!! For Pete's Sake!I go back to the pharmacy and get the original prescription and continue to take the Ibuprofen.

MY hand is still swollen this morning and the tingling is there. Hubby wanted me to stay home today (and let the sitter take care of the boys) while he went to the market. So, here I am taking it easy. I still do not feel good, but I will survive.

I hope you all have a blessed day and weekend.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Fresh Salsa

I love fresh salsa........here is one of my favorite recipes.

2 med. tomatoes
1-15 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed
2/3 c. fresh corn kernels (from 1 ear of corn)
1/4 c. lime juice
1T. chopped parsley
1 t. cilantro (finely chopped)
1 t. garlic powder
2 dashes Tabasco
3/4 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper

Mix all ingredients. Let stand one hour for ingredients to blend (flavor).

Serve with tortilla chips.

Hope you ENJOY!!!!

Blessings!!!!!!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

My Glimpse of Life

Oh how I miss my days of leisurely blogging. I love writing and have missed all of blogging friends so badly. I try to keep up and read your blogs, but have not had time to comment.

Someone emailed me (and that someone wished to not have their name in this post) and asked "just what exactly do you do at this job of yours"? That made me think......I really don't have a title there, but do not need one. I am the farmer's daughter.......I do whatever needs to be done.

Let's start with last Friday: Both the boys are beginning to get coughs and runny noses again. They have both been up and down for almost all night. I get up at 3am and fix hubby's lunch, back to bed until 5am. I get up, get ready and straighten house, put supper in the slow cooker, boys up, we all have breakfast, get them dressed and out the door by 7am. I take them to preschool and then go to open the market up for the day.

SOMEONE ELSE ASKED WHY DON'T I BLOG FROM WORK? WE DO NOT HAVE INTERNET ACCESS THERE. NOR DO WE HAVE A CASH REGISTER..........GO FIGURE, THAT HAS WORKED WELL SINCE 1956!

I open the market up for the day. I go through all of the produce to make sure and remove any bad items. I then sweep, clean the bathroom, wipe window seals, clean the porch off, clean the doors and rugs. I also am waiting on customers during this time as well as answering the phone.

I have a couple of special orders to get ready for the day as well. When we wait on customers we have to refill the cups and baskets of produce sold to them. This is a large part of what we do each day. I then clean off the desk in the office and write out the bills for the week. Still while answering the phone and waiting on customers. By now it is around noon. I fix a tomato sandwich and eat in between customers. By now it is 1pm, my Aunt P (that works for us) arrives. I then take the garbage to the big garbage can outside, feed the cows and haul off the rotten produce.

I come back and wash the buckets out. Then I call for load times on trucks, for the afternoon. We then load 2 trucks for the markets for the the next day, all while waiting on customers.

We are running short on peaches for the market, so we wait for the truck from the orchard. It arrives and we unload a hundred or so baskets.

By then it is 5:30pm, time to pick up the boys.......Hubby arrived just in time. He picks them up and I work on until 6pm. We go home, eat supper, do bathes, read and play. I clean up the kitchen and start on laundry.

Boys are in the bed by 8pm. We finish some laundry and clean up the bedroom and I take a long hot bath. Bedtime at 9:30pm. Long day tomorrow (Saturday).

Saturday we are up at 4:30 am for good. I have been up most of the night with Tiger, he is feeling pretty yucky. We get ready, get the cooler packed and leave instructions for Ms. KK. The boys clothes are out and ready for them. Ms. KK arrives at 5:30am . As we are leaving Tiger wakes for the day.

We (hubby and I) go and pick up the loaded truck for the market and stop for a to-go biscuit and start out hour and 20 minute drive to the market. I eat and then sleep the rest of the way. We arrive at the market and stay until 1pm and then drive back home. On the way home Ms. KK calls and say Tiger has spiked a 102.7* temp. He gets meddy and we hurry home. He acts fine as we arrive and I start him on Omnicef (his nose is running green). I think he has a ear infection. We take the truck back to the packing house and unload what's left. Then back home we go. Tiger's temp drops and we have to leave again to pick up supplies for the market (home market). We drive the hour and buy supplies and eat a bit of supper. We get home and I cook supper for my parents, after we unload the supplies. Hubby helps my Mom pick the figs (there is almost 20 gallons).

The boys are in the bed by 8pm and I shower and am in the bed by 9pm. Hubby stays up until 11pm.

By Sunday morning I am going on 2 hours sleep. Tiger fussed and whined all night. He is running a low grade fever. Hubby goes to his Dad's to meet his sisters to finish going through their Mom's things. The boys and i stay home from church. I call hubby at 11am and tell him Tiger's fever has reached 103.7* and is still climbing. the Tyneol/Motrin is NOT working. Hubby gets home and we get the boys to the doctor. They both have ear infections. Tiger's is much worse. Monkey has a yeast infection on his bottom. We get prescriptions and head home. We eat out again.....the boys still do not eat much. We go home and do bathes. Then we go and pick up my parents supper and us a piece of pie. We play with the boys and just cuddle. By 7pm the fever is finally broke. I am in bed right after the boys at 8pm.

I got to sleep almost all night, only up once until 3am. Monday the boys feel well enough to go to preschool and ear infections are not contagious. I decide to keep them home and they cry to go to school. I call the preschool and they tell me bring them on. I take them to school at 8am and come back home.

I shuck and silk a bushel of field corn and cut it off (and scrap the cobs) for the freezer. I also put up a basket of peaches for the freezer. I use an 8 quart basket of squash and make squash pickles. I do 6 loads of laundry and clean out my freezers as well. Then I cook fried chicken, fresh peas, stewed potatoes and fresh corn for supper, make a gallon of tea and cut up a basket of okra for the freezer. I run to the pharmacy and pick up the boys meds and drop my Mom and Dad's supper off.
I have to be at work at 1:30pm. I then write more checks for bills and count up for this week's banking. We load a truck for the market and we are still waiting on customers. Hubby is home before 6pm. He and I go pick up the boys. We stop back by my parents on the way home and visit for a few minutes. Home we go, eat supper, play with the boys, bathes and lots of book time. They are in the bed by 8pm. I clean up the kitchen and start laundry again. I get a bath and am in bed by 9:30pm.

I tried to check my email, since I had not checked it in over a week. I could not wait for all 2022 of them to come through. So, if you have emailed in the last week and need something immediately, please leave a comment.

The boys are at preschool and I should be putting up the other basket of okra sitting on my counter but i am visiting with my blogging buddies. I have to be in the orchard in an hour and have some calls to make before then, so I had better go. I have to be at a market this afternoon.

I hope you all have a great day, less busy than expected. I hope you enjoyed the peak into my life. Many blessings!!!!!!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Care and Concern

Thank you all for your sweet comments, phone calls and emails. I am okay. I do have the best friends ever though! We are extremely busy right now as well as other things happening.

The boys have had a stomach virus for about a week now and are finally on the mend. Monkey got bit so bad at preschool; that the other child was suspended. It broke the skin and is severely bruised. My help went back to school this past week. Can you believe we have already started back this soon?!

And last but not least my internet has been down for the last 4 days (off and on.........mostly off).

I hope to write a good post this weekend if time permits. I have to be up in 5 hours to go to the market in the morning.

Also thank you Julie and I promise to get to my award soon........I am heel and I am sooooo sorry for accepting my award. Also thank you heartsfullofluv for the award as well.......promise........soon.

Hope everyone is well and thanks a million........I love you all and cannot wait to catch up.

Many blessings!!!!!!!!