Happy Birthday to Me Part 2

As I was driving out to visit my friend for my birthday that night, (see part 1) I pulled up to a traffic light to find this car in front of me. I had to take a photo. God does want me to know I should trust in Him.

I have to go back about a week or two to give you the background of how amazing this event is for my sister.

My sister traded out some dental work to make some foam clothes for the dentist and his family. These clothes are made of 1/2 inch thick foam. I have sewed a set for each of my family and also bought a set of commercially made clothes for my family. They keep you warm in freezing temperatures without collecting water and sweat. If there were an earthquake in the winter, these would be something you would want to own for your family. I will post about foam clothes another day but just wanted to let you know why my sister needed a commercial sewing machine.

When making my set, I drove 3 hours to use another woman's commercial sewing machine that has a motor strong enough to get through thick fabrics. My sister told me a few weeks ago she needed to get this clothing made. She was going to borrow a machine but the people didn't want her to take the machine out of their house. For her with 5 children still at home, the hours needed to make the clothing would keep her away from home for hours, days at a time. I also told her she shouldn't borrow a machine unless she could replace it and they are thousands of dollars.

My sister called me a week ago from a second hand store to look up a machine that she found there. It turned out it was a button machine only sewing on buttons. That in itself, used and missing parts, was $100 + so her hopes were fading fast that she would be able to sew at home. I told her to have faith that God would help her find a machine.

Fast forward to the evening of my birthday dinner. I am sitting at the counter visiting with my friend and she starts to say something and hesitates and then finishes saying, "You don't know anyone that would want my mothers industrial Bernina sewing machine?" I laughed and laughed and she asked what was so funny. I told her to hold on while I dialed my sisters number. Not that I wasn't tempted to keep it for myself. Her mother sewed several dresses for me on that machine but I knew exactly where God and her mother wanted that machine to go.

I got my sister on the phone and asked her what she told me she wanted the other day. She was quiet until I told her it was why she called me from the second hand store. She told my friend and I she had been looking for an industrial sewing machine.

My girlfriend asked her when she could come and pick it up and my sister said she would leave "NOW!"

My friend and I went down and pulled the large desk and machine out of her basement and took it to the front door with a little help from her husband. She also asked if I wanted the swivel rocking chairs. My sister did want them so after driving the 45 minutes to get there, my sister had her industrial sewing machine.

As we were loading the machine into her car, I looked down and in the back of the car right next to the machine was a penny. I don't know if it dropped out of the machine while we were loading it or perhaps out of the chairs but I told my sister that she couldn't unload the sewing machine until I had a picture of the penny next to the machine! It was one dirty penny!

I think the license plate and the penny were a reminder for my sister as well. She trusted Him and I try to constantly remind myself to trust Him and he continues to amaze me almost daily.

My "found coins" container is getting fuller by the day. I often wonder how I can be so blessed.

I know my friends mom had a hand in getting the machine to someone who would use it often. My friend hadn't used it in 12 years but felt good about letting it go and she said that thought had been going through her mind for about two weeks. Just the same amount of time when I had been talking to my sister about trusting that God would help her find one rather than borrowing one.

He loves us all and enjoys helping us each get the things we need and want if we will just Trust in Him.

Happy Birthday To Me! Part 1

A few weeks ago, I went to spend some time with one of my best friends. She married a few years ago and I don't get to see her as often as we would like but I went to spend an evening with her and we decided to go to dinner. On the way to dinner, she told me that she was going to take me to a nice place for my birthday.

We arrived and enjoyed a WONDERFUL meal. We REALLY enjoyed the meal. When the bill came, I offered to pay my half and she told me I could get the tip. She didn't want me to see the bill but I glanced and laughed out loud when I saw the total. She couldn't figure out why. I told her about my 111 thing with numbers and asked her if I could take a picture of the bill.

It wasn't until later when I was editing it for the post that I laughed even harder and texted her telling her our table number was also 111. I am sure it was God's way of telling me "Happy Birthday!"

Several other things happened that night that were miraculous but I will post those in "part 2" tomorrow. For now, I want to finish my birthday post. Princess number one gave me a new rice cooker. Princess number two bought me my favorite perfume "Happy" by Clinique along with some Cd's I enjoy and took me to dinner a few weeks ago.

The morning of my birthday, a neighbor called. It isn't a neighbor that I am really close with but we share a back fence. Just the day before as I was standing at my kitchen window, I was giving gratitude that their flowers grew up over the fence line so I could enjoy them as I didn't have any in my yard where I could see them while I was at the kitchen window drying plums.

The neighbors dropped off this beautiful bouquet of flowers and when I saw them I just laughed. Heavenly Father had to be the director of this because this couple has never come over and given me things in the 17 years I have lived here. They saw my birthday in a paper and brought over the flowers and some home made granola (Which was yummy and I will try to post the recipe).

After they left, I went and looked out my kitchen window and only a few flowers were left on the top of the plant. She gave me the exact flowers that I had given gratitude for the day before!

Princess number four and five rubbed my feet for the longest time ever (over an hour together) and they all cleaned the house. I got cards, texts, emails and calls from family and friends. I had a girlfriend text a few days before asking if I was free to attend a benefit concert as her guest. I asked her "since that day just happened to be my birthday, could we do dinner before?"

We went to dinner at Chinese and enjoyed that and then ended up having front row center seats to a Merrill Osmond Concert. It was interesting to see the Osmond family videos he showed and we heard his daughter Heather sing. She is amazing.

Then, we heard his son Justin who is deaf play the violin. He played beautifully. They then gave a little boy who is starting kindergarten this week two hearing aids. He is over 90% deaf. The proceeds from the concert went to support the families of a military troop that is deployed.

The topper of the night was when Justin Osmond gave his beautiful violin to the five year old deaf boy telling him that even though people told him he couldn't play it, he showed them and now he wanted to share that with this little boy.

It was just amazing. They also showed a video of their foundation giving away hundreds of hearing aids to kids in Mexico last summer. It was inspirational. I was impressed.

As we left the concert, just as we were about to leave the building, I looked down and there was a penny. I laughed as I picked it up and explained to my friend why I was laughing. She isn't someone I have gone out with other than group activities in the past but we get along well and it is always nice to have new friends.

It was a great day and I will share other blessings tomorrow. 111 and pennies.... It was a great birthday. I love my Heavenly Father and his helpers!

Best Way to Dehydrate Plums - Oops!

If you read this blog much, you know I dehydrate just about everything. My plum tree is full of yummy plums and the birds and bees are having a luscious buffet taking bites out of each and destroying the fruit. I clean off the lawn several times a day with all of the fruit they are ruining.

I needed to get them off the tree quickly so I picked a bunch and was putting them on the dehydrator when Princess number three had a date arrive to pick her up. I hadn't met him before so we were visiting and I told him I was sorry for the wet hands and apron as I was dehydrating plums.

Her date then asked "How do you dehydrate plums?" I asked if he wanted to see. He did. So, I showed him how I dehydrate plums.

I had princess number 5 help me video me dehydrating plums and how I do it. Funny thing when you watch the video on the camera, it looks like everything was fine. Obviously we don't use that camera much to do video because when I looked at it on the computer to put it up on here, it is sideways!

However, the information is still good information so I will post the video anyway and I will also detail in pictures how I like to best dry my plums. I have posted something similar before but I will go ahead and post it as I did want a video of it and the information is a bit varied giving different details. Here is the link to that post if you are interested. It will just bring a smile to my face now every time I see the video. There is a learning curve with electronics.

First, pick and wash the fruit. Only pick as much as you will use as they can go mushy. If you need to pick them all, wash them and use the softest fruit first layering the others without piling them on as this squishes the fruit.

I try to cut the fruit on the side rather than from the top or the bottom. It is better explained on the video but from the side, you get round discs rather than a hole in the center from the pit in each piece. From the side only one or two of the slices around the pit are in pieces rather than every piece from the top down.

Here is a photo of the two side by side. The one on the left is cut from the top down and you can see how they are not round and are more in pieces and aren't as uniform in shape and size. Where as the one's on the right are round, uniform, and much easier to cut and turn for dehydrating as they don't rip when you take them off the drying tray.

Watch them closely when you dry them as they can get over done and burn or get really crisp depending on the dehydrator you use. The dehydrator in the video burnt out this weekend and that is about the fifth or sixth dehydrator I have burned up as I use it about weekly. Thank heavens I had one last one that I almost donated to a second hand store this week.

Once they are dry, I suggest Tupperware to store them. Here is my post on the reason I only use Tupperware.

Lastly, if the fruit is really ripe, you can blend it and make fruit leather but I don't have those trays for this dehydrator so I froze the mushy fruit to use in fruit smoothies. However, you can make some great jam using the ripe fruit as well. We don't eat much jam so we use the fruit in a shake format.

Thanks for being understanding about the video. We'll get it right next time. Enjoy the harvest month! I tried several times on the video and it wouldn't upload so I didn't want to change the whole post. Maybe next time.

Paws on the Claws - Back to School

The girls have been getting ready all week to go back to school. We have been all over the state and it is going to be nice having a schedule again. It is especially nice for me having a driver in the house. I have never had someone take the kids to school on a regular basis since the oldest two girls didn't get their drivers licenses until they moved out.

I love having a driver in the house. She loves to go and pick things up and drop things off and this morning, I didn't have to take the girls to school! It was wonderful.

Princess number 3 is full of school pride being Student Body President now so she asked me to make paw prints on her nails for the first day. I tried several types of things to make the right shape for the dots and paws and this is what worked for me.

I took round toothpicks and Q-tips and cut them in half using large scissors. I then to a metal nail file and filed the cut ends flat. On the Q-tip, you can squeeze the sides together making it more oval than round if you are looking for an oval shape for whatever you are painting on the fingernail.

I took a drop of nail polish and dropped it onto the top of the nail polish jar and then screwed the lid back on. I dipped the now flat end of the Q-tip or round toothpick into the polish and made the large dot for the palm part of the paw.

I then took the pointed end of the toothpick and dipped it into the polish to make the smaller dots. When I want a little bit bigger dot, I just used the nail file and filed down the point until it reached the size I wanted.

When tole painting, I use the back of my brushes of all sizes for different sized dots. If I wanted larger circles, I would have cut a small dowel or a shish kabob skewer using the same technique of cutting it and sanding it round.

When I have the desired look, I wipe the excess polish of the glass polish bottle and there are not chances of spills. I have an old towel that just stays with the polish so we paint nails anywhere using the towel.

The girls each got a new shirt for the first day and we had a hair train going. I curled one girls hair while she straightened another sisters hair. It would have been a cute picture if I had thought of it.

The first day was fun for all and Princess number 3 got some great comments on her "Paw" printed nails. I used to be really creative but slacked off with all the creative Mylar shapes in polish available. Perhaps I will do some creative things and post about them.... Who knows with my crazy life what I will come up with or actually complete. I am sure when the girls are gone I will wish these days back. I am glad we all get along and enjoy spending time together. We are BLESSED!

I looked back at one of my posts looking for a specific book I thought I had posted on cute nails but enjoyed reading about giving pedicures in Peru instead. It was a great reminder to me of how blessed we are! Here is a link to that post in case you missed it. It is worth the read!

Fritos Chip Veggie Salad - Super Quick and Easy

My second Princess said she was craving something the other day and wanted to make something for lunch. She went to the store and bought what she needed that we didn't already have.

She told me I probably wouldn't like it but I have no idea why she would say that as I like almost everything. Oysters, cow tongue, and a few mushes are about the only things I don't really like. She made this Fritos salad and I loved it. Everyone had seconds and some had thirds. I like that I didn't have to make lunch but it was even better because I really enjoyed the salad. I think I have tried something similar in the past but now I have the recipe.

The other nice thing as it is SUPER fast to make. If you are running late for a party, you would probably have most of the items on hand and may just have to stop at the store for a bag of Fritos but it was super fast.

Fritos Chip Veggie Salad

1 bag Fritos Chili Cheese Flavored chips

3 cans corn

1 can olives

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 red pepper chopped

1/2 green pepper chopped

3/4 cup mayonnaise

Mix all the ingredients together except the chips. Chill it until you are ready to serve it. Just before serving, dump in the desired amount of chili chips and serve.

I put the very little that was left into a small Tupperware and Princess number 2 finished it off the next day and said it still tasted good. She did add a few new crunchy chips to give it texture.

Thanks to Princess number 2 we have a new favorite salad for parties! Thanks to her for taking the photos for me as well. I will keep my eyes open for a sale on Fritos from now on. Maybe we will have a "Fritos" night and make the Fritos peanut butter caramel treat as well! Click here to see that yummy treat!

"Angels Watching Over Me" Concert

I called my best friend about a month ago and asked her if she would be able to get me three tickets to "Amy Grant" in concert this month. She works for an advertising agency placing advertising on radio and TV. She called a contact and called me the other day on the same day that I won the "Goo Goo Doll" Tickets and told me that she was able to get three tickets for me to see "Amy Grant" in concert.

I was so excited. When my eldest two princesses were young, we would listen to Amy Grant all the time as we had two or three of her cassette tapes.

The girls and their cousins would scream out the words of the song, "Angels watching over me" all the time and could sing several of her more popular songs knowing most of the words.

My eldest Princess wasn't really excited when I told her we were going which made me feel a bit disappointed in having asked my friend for the tickets since I thought they would be a bit more excited.

However, once we arrived and she started singing, the attitude changed dramatically and at the end my eldest said, "I really enjoyed that mom. Thanks for getting us the tickets."

I have to say, as you could see by my post (see here) a few months ago, that, I have seen my share, and a few other peoples share, of concerts in the past. Since that post, I remembered a few I forgot to add to the list. Having said that, I can now say that this concert was in the top five of "most personable performers" and the top ten in "all time favorite concerts" in my life.

My favorite for "Personable" are: Sara Mclauchlan, Harry Conick Jr., U2, Garth Brooks and now Amy Grant. She didn't have any flashing lights no back up singers but the band. She joked about having to duct tape her straps on her dress and took her shoes off along with her shawl. She took audience requests that the three guys in her "band" didn't know and played them without a flaw. Some weren't even her songs. She was AMAZING! Not having had recent albums and being able to play and sing like that was amazing to me. Her voice was beautiful and she got standing ovations and rave reviews from the audience.

I have been blessed in my life and as you can see in that post also, the asterisked concerts were free to me. Both concerts this week were free to me also. I think my Heavenly Father knows his daughter well and He knows I enjoy music.

My children don't let a day go past that they don't quote a music lyric or a movie line. Often their Facebook posts include lyrics from a song that describes their day!

Another wonderful thing that happened, was that after the concert, I wanted to use the restroom before walking to our car. The main floor was crowded so I suggested we go to the second level. We went up and had the bathroom to ourselves and on our way back to the elevator, I noticed a large basket of chocolates that were in a mold that said, "Thank You" tied with a pink ribbon and a little card on the side that said "Thank You" as well. There was a man there and I asked if they were from the pre-show mingle and he said they were. He said we could have some. I grabbed a bag with about six chocolates and a metal book mark. I thought we could share the chocolates with the other girls that didn't attend the concert.

I was grateful for the tickets, the concert and a wonderful friend who blessed our lives sharing her contact and getting me the tickets. It was in the top ten of my all time favorite concerts. Thanks Amy for a wonderful concert! Thanks Nancy for the tickets! Thanks Princess number 1 and 2 for going with me! And, thank you Heavenly Father for helping me get to go and for the treats!

Goo Goo Dolls in the Canyon

It has been years and years since I went to an outdoor concert in a canyon. I went often in high school but having moved a few times after that, I haven't had that opportunity again. Last weekend while I was driving to move Princess number 2 home, my car CD player stopped working for a moment.

I clicked on the radio seeing if I could get the CD player to work again and just at that moment, a radio DJ said, "You can win tickets to Goo Goo Dolls next weekend." I wasn't really interested in seeing them since I couldn't tell you what they sing so that didn't get me interested in calling into the show. However, after that he said, "You can also qualify to win a trip to Vegas for a family of four" that did it for me. I pulled out my phone and hit the radio contact in my phone to quickly dial.

I used to win often on that station but for some reason it doesn't come in as well in our small town now. It rang busy a few times and on the fourth call or so it started ringing. The DJ answered and told me I was the right caller and I would be going to the "Goo Goo Dolls" concert with "Michelle Branch" and "Parachute" as the opening acts. Right after I won, the cd player worked again.

I was so happy about that because I would have a chance at the Vegas trip. My older daughters had already been to see the "Goo Goo Dolls" in the past and my second daughter had already seen "Parachute" in concert so I thought I would take Princess number 3 as she loves "Parachute" and hadn't been to a concert with me so the plan was set.

We were able to stop in the city and pick up the tickets on our way up that same day so we didn't have to worry about how to get them.

We ended up missing the opening acts due to unseen issues moving Princess number 1 into her new place. While moving her in, we were putting up bookcases etc, my cell phone started its play-list and the first song on my play-list is "Iris" and I had no idea that it was sung by the "Goo Goo Dolls!" My second Princess said, "Oh, you get to hear that song tonight." I asked what she meant.

She then told me that the song was by the "Goo Goo Dolls." I couldn't believe it. My kids all laughed and laughed about that as I hear that song all the time. It goes off when my phone is sitting across the room. It is on the radio all the time. Just today, Princess number 2 was listening to Pandora in her room and it came on. Princess number 4 walked into the room while a few of us were having lunch and it was on her ipod. I laughed and she said how weird it was because she has 2000 songs on her ipod and it was on shuffle. It turned on twice on my phone by itself today. I also have to say that my daughter put the play-list on my phone for me so I didn't choose the songs on it, I just asked her to put things on that I would like.

I am not sure what message I am not getting but perhaps, "I don't want the world to see me!" Either way, they sounded great at the concert and we enjoyed that song especially. I did find that I recognized about 4 songs. It was a fun night.

Parachute did a parking lot concert after which thrilled Princess number 3 as the band walked right next to her on their way out. We heard Michelle Branch on our way up as we had a long walk.

The show was fun and Princess number 3 got a shirt and a "Parachute" CD to share with Princess number 2 who also loves them. I was impressed with the raw talent of the lead singer. He was amazing. The people we sat next to said that they were the best part of the show. I was sad we missed it but was grateful they did a parking lot show after.

Thanks to Heavenly Father, I was blessed to see the group that plays the song "Iris" I always hear (Click on it to hear the song) and I got to spend a lovely evening with Princess number 3.

Headbands, Bows, Clips and Beads

I am so tired from such a busy weekend that I am going to post these photos of my girlfriends daughters creations. She just came up with these ideas and started making these hair trinkets on her own.

It was funny to see some of the fabric she used as it was purchased back East when my friend Nancy came to visit once. We lived near some cloth mills and would go to the place where they sold seconds and I would purchase fabric by the pound there.

She made headbands, clips etc. She used beads and feathers. I have fallen asleep about 20 times since starting this post. I think I will just post her pictures and do something longer tomorrow. Hope you had a great weekend! We did!

Memory Handprint Camping Quilt Part 111

I did it! I'm FINISHED! My goal was to get all the girls memory, hand-print, baptism, family, camping quilts (lol) done before the girls started school and I reached that goal. I can't tell you how glad I am to be finished with these quilts!

I can't even begin to count the hours spent cutting, painting, quilting, sewing and clipping the edges of these quilts. I think they will always be something the girls will cherish and I will always be grateful I made them but I can also celebrate that I finished them. I stayed up super late last night finishing the clipping of the edges and then washed and dried it several times so that I could surprise Princess number five today. She had such a happy grin on her face when she saw me pull it out of the drier.

She willingly vacuumed up the floor in the basement where all the fringe strings and clipping strings were all about. Later tonight she walked up and said, "I feel like it is Christmas today." I asked what she meant and she said, "I got my quilt today and some stuff from sisters, (they went through and offered her unwanted items and out grown clothes) it just feels like Christmas!"

No one could tell me that the hours I spent on that quilt weren't worth it. Christmas in August was so worth it.

The last thing that happened and also the reason for the title. I was finishing my post for today when I looked at the front home screen of the blog. I am usually in the editing dashboard section so rarely look at the front as each time I preview a post it adds two lines between each paragraph so I have to go in and edit it again so I just post without preview. I am not sure why I was on the front page but I looked over and saw the "Fun with Family" posts and it just happened to have 111 posts in that sub heading.

I thought that was a congrats on finishing the quilt sign! So, that is what I named this post as I wasn't sure how to label it since I have named the last few girls quilt posts something other than "part" and a number.

I am one happy mom having that done and off the list and finishing it before moving princess number 1 was a feat in itself. I LOVE YOU PRINCESS NUMBER 5! I hope the quilt was worth the wait!

"I'm Movin Out" - Princess Number One

The last few days at our house have been a bit crazy as you can guess. I have been frustrated with the moving out bins in both halls and the moving in boxes, bags, and bins in several rooms and the garage. I am usually a stickler on not having anything in the halls as a nurse I have always had a thing for having a clear path in halls and from beds to doors in case of fire etc.

This week I had to give up that issue. The bins and boxes have been sorted and moved and Princess number one had to admit she has lots of stuff. :-) Princess number two probably has just as much so as one daughter gets most of her things out and organized the bins that were staying, Princess number two is going through her apartment items getting them all ready for long term storage to put where Princess number one just vacated spots.

We were blessed to be able to find everything Princess number one needs for her new place. We were also blessed to be able to fit it all into one large Suburban with her jewelry box as the only thing she wanted to take but will have to wait until next trip. We are hoping to be able to unload her stuff tomorrow as the other tenant is moving out so we pray by the time we make the drive, the place will empty and we can move in.

We do have some boxes of food and other items that we will have to pick up that we didn't take home with us thinking that she could use them from her sisters apartment when she moved out. We dropped them off on our way home at the beginning of the week.

As our days of being home all together come to a close, we are hoping to do a few fun things this weekend as we don't know when we will be together again as the eldest Princess will be in job training and dating and living in another city a few hours away.

I'll let you know how our fun plans go as they are somewhat subject to the moving schedule. I do have some concerts and a wedding scheduled and hopefully will get to enjoy a night with one of my best friends since high school. I'll let you know next week how it went.

We will miss Princess number one but will have a busy few months getting Princess number two ready to go to Taiwan. School starts next week and we are getting ready for that as well. Princess number three and Princess number four are getting things ready as they both hold student body offices. Princess number five is busy growing daily. Each morning I question if she grew during the night. I am thinking she may just end up being the tallest of them all.

As I loaded the car today the Billy Joel song, "I'm moving out" lyrics kept running through my head so I thought that would be a good blog post title today. I know Princess number one will be amazing at whatever she does. Her new place is just minutes from her new job, minutes from one of her best friends and cousin and close to her boyfriend. Who could ask for more. LOVE YOU PRINCESS!

Fixing a Broken Dowel on Anything

My eldest saw this frame at a store and wanted to purchase it for a gift. It was the only one but it was broken. I told her I could fix it and since I have been showing her how to do domestic projects, I thought I would show you as well. I have used this technique so many times over the years. I have had to repair many different items in this way.

I used a similar technique to fix my chair tops on my dining room table set. The spindles at the top will get broken when people put coats etc on them. I will use a dremel to drill a hole in the center of each broken piece and then glue in a wooden dowel in the holes to place the broken spindle decoration back on the chair.

This Disney frame had a broken dowel which wouldn't allow the one little frame on the right to stand even. I pulled off the frame on the right bottom of the castle and used a small dremel rounded drill bit to grind out the old dowel. It only took about five minutes to get both drilled out and then I measured the thickness of the existing dowel to find a similar dowel to replace it.

I found a shis-kabob stick that was a similar thickness. I have used pencils or other round wooden objects before as well. Tinker toys would work well also.

I measured it and used a rotary saw on the dremel to cut it to the right size. I then used wood glue on both sides of the dowels to hold the dowels in well. The whole project went quickly and now she has the Castle frame to give as a gift.

Hope you find this technique as helpful as I have over the years.

We Did Fare at the Fair

I have to say that entering the fair was nothing we did growing up. I do have a grandmother that crocheted the most amazing sweater that took the grand prize at the state fair when I was young but that is about as far as my fair memories go. I wish I had a photo of that sweater and will have to ask my younger sister if we can get one as she inherited that. My grandmother was an amazingly talented woman.

I went today to pick up our items that were placed in the fair and we ended up with a good chunk of money from the fair. I ended up with $31 for just entering things I worked on for the kids anyway. I entered the T-shirt quilt I did for my eldest (see here).

I entered one of the hand print jean memory quilts I made for one of the girls. (See here)

I entered one of the cute aprons I made for the girls out of overalls. (See here)

I entered a dried fruit salad in a jar and a jar of dehydrated soup veggies in a jar. (See here)

I entered a crotchet baby blanket and knit hat. (See here)

I also entered some photos I took and some suckers we made last week and each took a turn making a batch. (See here)

The girls did well with their entries. My youngest entered her Castle of Garbage (See here)

They each entered a hat they knit. (See here) Along with suckers they made and photos they took. There were a few other items but all in all, it was a fun event.

If you have never entered something in the county fair, you should look into it if you are a baker, artist, crafter, photographer and even scrap-booker. There are so many things you can enter other than animals and 4-H. We make money each year.

Our county fair is free to attend and enter. There is a contest for photos you took at the fair and I will be entering that hopefully tomorrow.

All in all we probably brought home 20 ribbons. We had about $50 in cash. I think we did Fare!

Here is hoping you also do fare at the fair!

Over The Hill and Far Away....

Over the years as my little princesses have one by one started leaving the nest I am reminded of the song of Mother duck and how her little ducks go "Over the hill and far away" and then only four, three, two and one come back as you sing the verses. Then, at the end of the song, "Mother duck says, Quack, Quack, Quack, Quack and all of the five little ducks come back."

Last Friday I mentioned the my eldest got a job in another city and needed to find a place to live. Our Heavenly Father sure watches out for his daughters. Just as we loaded up the car to head five hours away to help Princess number 4 move home, I grabbed the mail and here is what I found. A dime. I laughed out loud. I got three unexpected bills totalling over $800 and then a dime! I so love my Heavenly Father who reminds me to trust in him at stressful times.

My eldest texted an add from the paper about looking at a room since she only has a week to find a place and get moved in as well as find the furniture that she needs. The owner got right back with her and we stopped on our way to look at the place. She liked it, we gave a deposit and she will be moving in next weekend.

We got a call and had been trying to get tickets to a sold out outdoor show. Princess number 2 called as we were leaving saying somehow they got 9 tickets back and we could get the six we needed to attend.

We headed to the show arriving just in time for dinner and to get our seats before the show started. We made some new friends and enjoyed spending time together. The temperature was great and no bugs were biting.

It was wonderful being together for the weekend. We did a few other activities together the next day visiting a temple worshiping there along with shopping. Princess number 4 took me out to Chinese food like we used to do when she was at college a little closer to home as she wanted some "one-on-one" time with mom.

We cleaned and packed her apartment and loaded up the cars to get everything home. We also visited with family and attended Sunday church services with them as I have a nephew that just returned from Chili where he was serving as a missionary. It was wonderful visiting with a cousin I haven't seen in years as well as enjoying the rest of the family.

Princess number four got checked out of the apartment and we were headed home. She has mixed emotions about leaving but is looking forward to her new adventure in Taiwan.

As we unloaded her car I couldn't help feeling like the "Mother Duck" having all my five little ducks home even if it only is for a few days. All their belongings and all of them home is a good feeling. We actually packed up lots of the stuff from Princess 2's apartment to just take directly to Princess number 1's place this week. All the food, bedding and pans really don't need to sit for a few years and would be better used so that was nice to help us with packing. Also, we save on having to buy another car. Princess 1 will take the car Princess number 2 has used at college. That is a big blessing.

This week will be a busy one loading up the suburban with furniture and clothes. I hope we can get everything in 1 trip. It was convenient as we have a wedding of a niece in that area this weekend so we are able to attend and move Princess number one in the same trip. We also have two concerts but I will tell you about those another day!

Here is to "Mother Duck" and her five little ducks!