Almost ready for new homes :)

Our newest editions to the family are almost ready for new homes!  I wanna keep the grey tabby, he is so sweet..oh heck, they all are! If I could keep them all I would but since we currently have 9 felines in the house, some of them have to go, lol.

Oh my, how fast the time has flown!!

Wow! I forgot how long it's been since I last posted!  Summer is halfway over with and it's been a busy one around here. I have had a hard time getting on my computer with the kids home, every time I go on it, they get bickering or fighting or just plain want me for something,lol. No rest for the wicked... Wish I could say we have been on vacation but we haven't :(  We want to take the kids camping or something since it's been six yrs since we have been anywhere, it's just hard with hubby working long hours and on the weekend too. This past Saturday, we got our oldest daughter to babysit for the night and hubby and I got a hotel room in a nearby town, had dinner and enjoyed some much needed quality time for ourselves. It was so nice!

Anyhow, my oldest son graduated from gr.8 in June and is on his way to high school in the fall, I can't believe the time has gone so fast, he was just not quite 2 when we moved out here. My oldest daughter is going into gr. 12, she still doesn't live at home, but is doing very well, working hard and amazed me by making up 8 credits that she missed over the years, all in one semester! She is now on track for graduating next year, I am so proud of her!! Rhys is going into gr6,Brynn is going into gr4 and Kaedyn, my baby, is entering gr1. I will now have every day to myself, whatever will I do?? lol.

So, we have been busy with our huge veggie garden, despite having little rain, things are growing not too badly, but we really do need the rain, not just a sprinkle but at least a day or 2 of good solid rain!  We are actually supposed to get a storm today, who knows what it will bring, hopefully no tornadoes but with the heat and humidity anything is possible.

On the July 1 rst Canada weekend, hubby and I went on a road trip , the kids were camping with grandma and grandpa :) It was a nice drive and we stopped in at various antique shops and yard sales.  Of course I have been to a few auctions as well ( hubby is cursing me for bringing home more things than we have room for lol)  Anyhow, the one yardsale we went to, I spied a lovely antique wood tub stand with the wringer and gavalnized steel tubs and a wood handled washer thingy, forgot what it's called. To my surprise, my wonderful hubby bought it for me!  He spied some old gas cans ( I think I finally got him smitten with antiques so these are what he is starting to collect).   I also found another antique tub stand on kijiji for a really good price so I had to have it! along with various crocks ,whipple trees,washboards etc.  My porch is getting filled lol.

Tomorrow I am planning on making cucumber bread with some of the overflowing cucumbers our garden has provided. I have never made it before so wish me luck.

Hope all of my followers are having a fantastic summer! Stay cool if you can :)

hugs and blessings,Trish

I have missed you all!!

Good evening every one! Oh how I have missed you all :) Remember my last post where I was having troubles with our internet? Ugh, well we completely lost our connection for 2 weeks :P After numerous attempts to have someone come out and fix it, and appts made for them to do it and non shows without calling to let us know, they finally showed up today! So we are back online thank goodness, we were getting tired of playing solotaire on the computer, lol. I haven't been this frustrated in a long time since we paid for the entire service for the year up front. I want to thank you all for the lovely birthday wishes, they meant so much to me!
hmm, so what is new around here? Well we got our 40 by 100 foot veggie garden ready and things are growing nicely! Corn,onions,lettuce,tomatoes,potatoes,beans,carrots(well they are not growing well, lol), radishes, strawberries, cucumbers, both regular and pickling ones, water melon, cantalope, peppers, and best of all, weeds! NOT!!  We bought 2 apple trees and a plum tree as well.  My flower gardens are doing well when the  chickens are not digging up the flowers or eating the petals.  2 weeks ago we had a surprise hatch of 3 chicks, hatched out by one of the americauna hens that was given to us. I have a banty hen sitting under the old snowmobile with loads of eggs under her too and they should be hatching soon.  Under our new porch, a robin family built a nest and Monday, 4 baby robins hatched out and I get to see them through our front screen door all the time, it is so cute. As well, our cat Spyder who snuck outside in April, is expecting very soon another litter of kittens. We were just about to get her spayed when she got outside for the night and found the barn cat Tommy, the father of her last 2 litters. So spring has been very busy with the critters around here but I love it!!

Back in May, we had an F0 tornado touch down not ten minutes from us. I just missed it by about 5 minutes when I was driving to go get my daughter to take her to driving lessons.  I had to drive right up the road it went through and didn't even know one touched down til later. I drove through the after effects I guess, washed out road, heavy down pours  and watched river like flooding racing through the farm fields. Thanks goodness nothing was really damaged and nobody was hurt but I was scared as I had left my oldest son home with my youngest daughter while I went and my husband had not come home from work yet.  I shudder to think what might have happened if that tornado had come our way!

Tomorrow is a P.A. day for my kids, I don't know why since school is out in less than 3 weeks! This weekend is going to very busy. I can't say why just in case a certain family member stumbles on here and finds out, lol, but I will tell you all afterwards :)

Hoping you are all having a fantastic week and I just wanted to stop by and let you know why I haven't been on here. Guess I have alot of catching up to do eh?

Have a great night!

hugs, Trish

It's almost Friday...and my birthday :) Okay, another year gone by, I won't say how old I will be, lol.  On Monday, I got a surprise in the mailbox, a special birthday card from Linda at Parker's Paradise! It really started my week of great and I truly do appreciate her thoughtfulness and kindness, thank you so much Linda!!

Our internet has been crappy all week, since we live in a valley with hills and trees all around us, the reception is getting really bad and we need to get an extension rod put on our t.v. antenna for the reciever for the internet. With all the leaves out on the trees it is getting blocked :( I am actually surprised that I am able to post right now. Mother's Day was lovely, we went shopping for my gifts on Sunday,  I picked out a Hydrangea bush, and an Azalea bush, I want to go back and get a bloomerang lilac bush that flowers all summer long, maybe for my birthday :) The kids picked out some strawberry plants and my son bought a Gay Feather plant with his own money. Hubby bought an apple tree :)  We are hoping to get our veggie garden planted this weekend as it's the May 24 weekend and Monday is a holiday, the weather is supposed to be hot and sunny!!

It's been a pretty good week, the kids want to take me out to dinner tomorrow night for my birthday, it all depends on how late James works, he's been pretty busy and with the long weekend coming up, everyone is going to want their septic and holding tanks done...hopefully he won't get called in over the weekend, lol.

Well, I had better get off of here before my internet goes on me!

Hope you all had a wonderful week!

hugs, Trish

Happy Mother's Day :)

Just wanted to wish all my wonderful blogging friends a special and blessed Mother's Day!

 I am told that I get to sleep in...ya right, who is going to get up and take the dogs out first thing for the bathroom break, lol. And I get breakfast in bed?? hmm last year hubby had to work so the kids surprised me with their best efforts, toast, without butter and cold, lol, and microwaved tea without the sugar and milk, luke warm by the time they got it up to me, haha. Ah well, it was the thought that counts!! This year, knock on wood hubby doesn't get a call for work, I will have side bacon from our piggies, and fresh eggs from our hens, and hot coffee courtesy of our Mr. Coffee Keurig machine :) The kids have told me that I don't have to do any house work...I may be worried as this could mean they will do it, or they will leave it for me to do on Monday...hmmm.  Oh well, it is suppose to be a bit rainy so I think a lazy day may be in order unless we go out to pick out my Mother's Day gift :)

hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and that you enjoy your well earned special day tomorrow!!

hugs and blessings, Trish

I am still alive, lol

Rhys and his big sister Alexis on his birthday!!

Wow! I don't know where the time has gone? I have been slacking on updating here and visiting everyone's blogs that I love so much to read. I really just haven't had much spare time and when I do get some quiet time, I am pooped out.  The Nickelback concert was amazing! My daughter and I took the GO train into the city and didn't get lost, amazing :) We had great seats and got lots of pictures. Cannot wait to see them again! April 30th was my miracle son Rhys's 11th birthday, can't believe he is growing up and so blessed that he is doing so well and still with us. 10 yrs ago he was celebrating his first birthday in the hospital after his bmt transplant.He had just come out of ICU after having a major lung hemmorage. At that time we were not sure if he would celebrate another birthday because on Mother's Day weekend, he landed himself right back down there and spent 2 months on a ventilator and his entire body was shutting down, we were told he was not going to make it. But he did and after many hospital stays that year and spending his 2 nd birthday in there, he has managed to pretty much keep himself out of the hospital other them his 2 vp shunt replacements and yearly checkups from his bmt docs, neurology and genetics. So here we are, so proud to celebrate another year with him!
Anyhow, we have been working outside lots,  our front porch has the roof on it and just needs the eavestrough on. Then I am going to decorate it! My husband bought an antique 1948 ford 8N tractor for us to use around the farm for smaller chores. He got a plow put on it and has been trying to work up an area for a veggie garden after he gets home from work each night. My flower gardens are coming up nicely and I have purchased some shrubs to plant along with some more perennial plants. We still have most of our chickens although we lost one hen due to something grabbing her when she was in the wooded area and my favourite banty hen Martha was killed by something that beheaded her and left her on the front lawn :( Than my hubby accidently ran over my all white americauna hen last week when he was backing up the truck. For some reason, the chickens like to hang out under the vehicles and do not like to move out of the way.  ***sigh***. I am now working on getting my business started working at home which takes up some of my time as well, but being able to work at home is great!   The kids have been busy raising money for The Cops For Cancer fundraiser by doing a readathon.For such a small school, they raised quite a bit of money!!
I am slowly losing weight for the National MPS Society charity, working out to Shaun T and his hip hop abs dvd, something easy for me lol, and fun and I am losing inches!!  The weather today was chilly and windy, it almost felt like winter without the snow. I almost had to put my mini gloves on because the chill bothers my Raynaud's syndrome and my fingers go bluey white  and numb briefly.  I cannot wait til summer gets here! Oh well, the weekend is looking good although my husband has to work Saturday and is on call for Sunday, busy time of the year when everyone needs their septic tanks emptied :)
 Tomorrow I have more planting to do and weeding and I am on my own so will make things easier to do.

Guess I should get off to bed soon, thought I would stop in and say hello! Thank you Steph for emailing me to check and see if things were okay! You are a true friend!
Hoping you are all having a great week and Happy Friday tomorrow!

hugs and blessings, Trish

I have my hearing back and snow.....

Hey everyone! For some of you it's a snowy day, we had snow stuck to the ground this morning, i was not pleased at all :(  Most of it has melted but it's still snowing and raining and very windy....raw temps, blah! i had to dig out the winter coats again :P

Well, as most of you know, I was going to the Nickleback concert Sunday evening.  My daughter and I took the go train into Toronto and amazingly did not get lost, lol. All I csn say is...WOW!!! What an awesome time with 4 great bands and the light shows and pyros were out of this world!  Nickleback and Bush were the best but Seether and My Darkest Days were great too! I finally have my hearing back, lol, and my voice back...much to my kids disappointment, :D  But what a once in a life time experience! I had the best time sharing this experience with my daughter and we can't wait to see them again!  Here are some pics from my cell phone, not great but my daughter has to upload her good pics she took on her camera. Sorry they are sideways, lol.   I have to upload the pics of my goodies from last week and the sunflower bowl fillers that I bought from Deb over at Paxton Valley Folk Art arrived last Friday and are simply too cute!  Thanks Deb :) 
I will be back soon with more pics, hope you are having a fabulous day and thanks for stopping by!

hugs, Trish