Just a chair…

How many of us are vowing to start exercising after our wonderfully, over-the-top, calorie loaded, Thanksgiving Day?  Are we checking out Black Friday exercise equipment offerings today?  Or maybe looking into getting a gym membership for a Christmas present. 
When I was a little girl my Grandma would sometimes stay with us.  Grandma was getting older and a little thick around the waist.  My ever health conscious mom was doing everything she could to keep her from gaining any more weight.  We’d line up chairs across the living room floor, one for each of us, and turn on the old green tube television to exercise with Jack LaLanne. 

Here was this muscular guy with what sounded like an accent to me, in a jump suit and ballet slippers, urging us to get up off the couch and MOVE!  We’d stand behind our chair and kick our legs.  Then hold on while doing deep knee bends.  Then we’d sit on the chair and pull our legs in, kick out, lift and hold… The funniest was the face contortions to firm up the face muscles.  No face lifts for this generation.    
He’d say things like “Anything in life is possible if you make  it happen” and “The food you eat today is walking and talking tomorrow”.  Apparently he was onto something about how to live, since he lived to the ripe old age of 96.
Last weekend, when grandson Dakota was with us, I fixed all of the wrong things – bagels, fried foods, lots of potatoes, and *horrors* bought ice cream.  Central Dairy Muddy Waters ice cream.  For those of you who are not from this area do not know what you are missing.  Central Dairy Ice Cream is the best ever!  Anyway, I told Dakota that Grandpa and I needed to get back into the habit of going to the gym.  He couldn’t believe his grandparents have a gym membership at all… which got me to thinking about how my parents and grandparents exercised, which got me to thinking about Jack Lalanne and our fun afternoons in the living room.  It’s strange how the mind works – or at least how my mind works.  Now if I could just get my body moving in as many different directions and as quickly as my mind.
No, I haven’t gone back to the gym (yet), and the kitchen chairs are still where the belong, pushed in under the kitchen table.  But you just never know when motivation will hit. 

In the meantime, I think I’ll join Dakota and Whiskey on the floor, relaxing in front of the wood stove.  Move over guys, I’m coming in.

Answers and what I loved about this week

In  response to comments and questions on previous post:

• The metal roof is a very dark green and matches the greenhouse portion of the house and the garage.  We are now color coordinated again
• I absolutely adore the sound of rain on a metal roof.  I've even been known to go to the loft to work when it is raining just so I could hear it on the roof!
• Travis does NOT have a tattoo.  The spot on his arm is the wind chime hanging there.
• The neighbor came and got her horse back.  Our fences are not adequate for horses, having been designed for sheep.  Unfortunately, obviously hers aren't either.
• She said the other horse was shot (don't know where she found it back).  Deer hunters?  Disgruntled neighbor?  I guess we'll never know.
• The mums are definitely dead.  Wish I could tell you I gave them a proper burial, but.. .
• Travis did not conquer the leaves.  That is not possible!
• Bailey is too lazy to attack.  Kind of like me.
• The roofers are back today.  Since they didn't fall off last week, I trust they won't today.  It is much less windy.
• Whiskey is like the energizer Chihuahua - never wears out
• I love where we live.  It is our own little oasis.

What I loved this week:

• Discovering when I kissed Austin on the cheek and he swiped at the spot, that he was not wiping my kiss off, but rather rubbing it in
• Grandparents day at Allen's school.  We (the two Grandma's) decorated a turkey with him.  He seems to have a great teacher and was all smiles and hugs.
• A sweaty hug from Travis after his first wrestling skirmish of the year.
• The fact that Jim noticed I had my hair colored this week
• Sitting on the front porch with Jim late at night, swaddled in a blanket, talking and listening to the wind howl
• Dakota wanting to spend the weekend with us while his mom and dad were out of town - even if he did have the motive of wanting to go to a birthday party
• Getting a rush embroidery job done ahead of schedule
• Visiting with a friend who has been very sick
• Making the difficult decision with our friends that we are no longer going to continue our annual Christmas open house (a ten year run) - and sending out a Christmas card telling everyone so. 
• Learning that Uncle Cy is in town and I will get to see him, and many other family who I don't get to see very often, next week.
• Reading Susan Vreeland's book Clara and Mr. Tiffany (awesome book!)
• Working on my scrapbooks and card making

So, what made you smile this week?

What’s been going on in my world…

Where have I been, you ask?  Life is out of control.  But you don’t want all of the gory details, now, do you?  I didn’t think so.  Instead I’ll just leave you with a glimpse of my world this past week.
This guy showed up to spend a few days with us. Since many neighbors have horses, it took quite a few calls before we figured out where the prison break took place.  She belongs to the one neighbor we didn’t call, because she is known to not take very good care of her animals and this ol’ gal looked very well groomed.  I guess we should have known, though, because our neighbor’s fences are atrocious.  It turns out she had two rescue horses.  Had is the key word.  This one ended up in our field.  The other one she found dead.  I’m thinking she doesn’t need to be rescuing any more horses.

This guy showed up too, but unlike the horse, he was invited.  It is amazing how helpful a 15 year old can be.  Thank you for all of your help, Travis.  Hopefully all the running we did with you (and driving practice!) made up for it.

I do believe the mums are done for this year. 
 

We are getting a metal roof put on the house, thanks to hail damage this last spring and summer.  You would not have caught me on that roof with the wind whipping around like that.  Shoot, who am I kidding?  You would never get me on the roof!  Period.

Bailey never changes.  She just stays lazy, with an attitude.

My roses are going for the last hurrah of summer.  Isn’t this one beautiful?  The scent is oh so sweet.

And Whiskey keeps us entertained every night as he plays catch with his many toys.  He is so spoiled!

I haven’t been around the blogs much lately, but that will change soon I’m sure.  It is too hard to stay away!  Have a great weekend all.

My favorite month

I asked Jim to complete this sentence for me:  Life has been busier than: 

He replied:

A house painter with a two inch brush

Than sh#*

A one legged man in a butt-kickin' contest

A yearling ram in a field of 40  breeding ewes...

That about says it all I guess.

The skies were beautiful yesterday.  The winding road leading home is canopied by multicolored tree limbs.  It is so pretty this time of year.

We watched Allen and Reagan Saturday while Greg and Alicia did more wine hopping.  The ol' soaks!  We had a wonderful day with them.  No pictures, though.  Sometimes the camera needs to be retired and fun just needs to happen.

Sunday we "hit" Les Bourgeois winery in Rocheport.  Some of you have asked about the wines.  We have some definite favorite Missouri wines.  Les Bourgeois has an inexpensive wine that we serve often, River Boat Red.  It is a good all around semi-sweet wine.  However, Jim and I lean more towards the dry wines.  Our favorite Missouri wines are Norton and Chambourcin.  Norton is the driest and most expensive, but amazing!  If you are ever in Missouri - do yourself a favor and go to Missouri wineries.  I've been to Napa Valley and let me tell you, I will pit our wines against theirs any day.

After a glass of wine we stopped at Greg and Alicia's to check out the tree house Greg and Allen are building.  Did I say tree house?  From the looks of it, if Jim ever kicks me out (or the other way around), I will have a place to run to. 

Allen's Tree House.  If I understood correctly, he and Greg are standing in what will be a room. 
They are looking through where there  will be window. 

We then headed on down the road to visit Tessa and Bill and the kids.  Julie and her boys had just left there, so we missed them.  But we did have a really nice visit with Tessa's family. 
Monday morning found me trying to complete my selections for my StampIn Up starter kit.  Since I've begun scrapbooking again, I've found that my supplies were sorely wanting.  The easiest way to fix that is to become a StampIn Up Demonstrator.  This has been a very time consuming process (decisions, decisions, decisions!) and I don't believe I would have seen it through if it had not been for my mentor, Jeannie.  She has taken many hours of her time putting together spread sheets, explaining the products, and making recommendations.  She is truly amazing.  Thank you Jeannie!

So what was Jim doing while I was drooling over scrapping choices?

He was slaving over turnips.  We both love slightly salted raw turnips.  But a person can eat only so many of those before they go bad.  Turnips are amazing in vegetable soup.  So when our neighbor gifted us with a batch of turnips, Jim took to the task of peeling and cubing them for freezing.  Don't ask me what his old dump truck is doing in the picture.  He discovered it while cleaning the garage.  I do believe it will find a home on the  shelf in the pool room.

Since the kids didn't have school yesterday (teachers meetings I think), I finally took Dakota birthday shopping yesterday.  His birthday was in September, but I always say, "better late than never".  He settled on Tech Skateboards and a cool track.  Apparently these little boards can be manipulated with a flip of the finger.  According to Julie, he spent the rest of the afternoon watching Youtube videos about different ways to use the track and boards.  I figured they are better than another video game!

I also took Travis to get his driving permit.  Unfortunately, we forgot to bring his Birth Certificate.  I suggested they let him take the test and then give the permit to his mother when she brought in his birth certificate and signed the form.  They wouldn't even consider it!  In Missouri a parent or legal guardian has to be with the child for them to get their permit.  They can take the test without the parent, but the child has to be with the parent when she signs for the permit.  This definitely makes things difficult since Julie can't leave her day care and Travis is in school and then goes directly to foot ball practice after school. They resolved the problem by Julie's friend taking Travis (with his birth certificate!) to take the test this morning.  He passed with flying colors.  Congratulations Travis!  The Department of Revenue is open one Saturday a month, so Julie and Travis will then go pick up the permit on that Saturday.  Can things get any more complicated?  I'm sure they can, but what an ordeal!

We got rain yesterday!  The temperatures are supposed to dip to almost freezin every evening this week and climb to the 50's during the day.  Have you turned your furnace on yet?  Or built a fire?  We haven't, but I do believe that is going to change REAL soon!

Vanilla or Not Vanilla...

Last weekend was wonderful.  Along with son, Greg, daughter-in-law, Alicia, and their two sweeties, Reagan and Allen, we headed East to Augusta, Dutzow, and Defiance, MO to visit the many wineries there.

The weather was about as good as it can get, with the sun shining and the temperatures hovering around 80 degrees.  The kids were better than the weather.  You would think taking kids to wineries would be a tedious affair, but not with these two.  They were in and out of those car seats enough times to make your head spin, and yet they did not complain a single time.  It truly was a magical day.

I spent more time than I care to think about putting together a slide show of the memories, but for some reason youtube does not like it - even though I used the same program (Windows Live Photo Gallery) that I always do.  So then last night I decided to just load a few of my favorite photos of the weekend.  Blogger didn't like them.  This morning after spinning all night, the pictures had still not loaded.  Grrrrrr.

So here I am, saying life is good.  Time is short.  Fall is busy.  Technology is frustrating.  Family is priceless. The colors of Fall are breathtaking.  And I am still around and will catch up with all of my bloggy friends soon!

Now I am going to try one more time to load a picture or two.  If it doesn't happen almost immediately, then too darn bad.  This will be a vanilla blog.  I like vanilla, don't you?

Brotherly love.  Allen watches over Reagan - except, of course, when he is tormenting her.  So often I want to call him little Greg... he is so much like his daddy!

Mother and daughter - words of wisdom

Nobelis Winery Vinyard

Nobelis winery in Augusta had these huge balls for the kids to play on.  They spent forever rolling down the long hills and bopping each other back an forth. 

If I could only read her miind right now

Reagan and Allen on the way to the last winery - what troopers!



Rolling Missouri hills hinting of fall colors



Allen and Greg - love the people, love the scenery!

According to Wiki.answers, 'In vino veritas' is Latin for 'in wine, the truth'. It refers to the fact that, owing to their inhibitions being lowered, people are more honest after they have been drinking alcohol, and often say things they wouldn't say if sober.  I do believe that about sums it all up!

Vinyard mural painted on the side of a metal building

  Well how about it!  This post isn't vanilla after all.  Now I am going to try linking to one of my youtube videos that did load and leave you with the sounds of children playing.

Like I said, I'll be around the blogs soon.  I promise!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f89UIl3NWqc (thanks Iggy for getting a good link for me. you're the bestest!)

Fallball

I will preface this post with:  I am not a sports fan.

But somehow when my grandchildren are part of the sport, I become a sports fan.

I become a yelling, crazy lady.

Football and Fall in Jefferson City, MO are synonymous.

Grandson, Travis, plays for the Jefferson City Jays Freshman team

He is number 60

He is awesome

The team is awesome

They won again last night.... 54 to 6.  Yep, that is definitely a win.

So I'll leave you with some football pictures. 

I'm embarassed to admit that I don't even know who they were playing.

But I know who number 60 is!

Comic relief

Six year old Grandson, Austin, posed for these pictures.

He proudly grinned when I showed them to him.

I wish I could be more like Austin, making silly faces and not caring whether my face is clean or dirty.

A this and that weekend

The temperatures climbed to the 90’s yesterday and then plummeted to the 40’s overnight, and finally settling into the 50’s today.  It is definitely Spring in Missouri.
This lonely bloom was way ahead of the many other blooms maturing on our Magnolia Bush.

I greatly appreciate her effort at brightening the landscape.

Anna and James spent the weekend with us and since James turns 6 next week, we did a bit of early birthday shopping and ended up with a Lego castle set.  We seem to have a bit of Legomania going on around here.  Anna was a trooper helping him figure out how to put them together.

Now I’m not going to say I’m into child labor, but the fact is that when you work hard, good things come your way.

We raked leaves (yes, we rake leaves both Fall and Spring in these woods).  And then we they took the leap
  
 
and jumped into them.  We did eventually rake them up and haul them away.

The winds and rain, and ice and snow of winter left the ground littered with tree limbs.  The kids picked up sticks and hauled them to the fire pit.  

   
There was a little bit of incentive added for their hard work.

A wiener roast!  We have a few lessons learned from this wiener roast.  1.  We need stronger poles for roasting BallPark type hotdogs than wire coat hangers; 2. Normal marshmallows work better for S’mores than those humongous ones available in the stores today.  Those great big ones don’t squish down right; and 3. along with the food and paper towels, a wet rag is a must after eating S’mores.

Our weekend with the kids ended a bit sooner than we expected.  Their dad was waiting to take them home when we got home from Church Sunday morning.  Now what?  We had a whole day ahead of us with no plans!  So we hopped into the car and took the winding, ridge running, roads to Osage County and Frankenstein, where we checked out the hard to find Dudenhoeffer’s Nursery.  It is a bit early to put out new plants, but we bought a few plants anyway and have them sitting safely in our garage. 


Now, if the temperatures would just settle into moderate Spring like temperatures.  No more of these crazy highs and lows.  It isn’t healthy!