Supper's over...

...and the dishes washed,

nothing left but a piece of squash...

....er, make that cream of broccoli soup.  :)

The day on which I was born...

I turned 26 years old this morning.   I thank the Lord for each and every day of life!  It is a good life.

  I most certainly do not feel that "Old" though!    I wonder if people will now think I look like I'm 21 instead of 20?  ;)

I ended up not needing to work today, so was glad to spend the day at home with my whole family!  They made me feel very special and gave me presents and everything.  :)  My parents had bought an ice cream cake which was DELICIOUS!  (picture to come)  We'd invited friends over for this evening, but they had to be someplace else, so we played games and watched movies and I had some time for reading.  My mom and I also played piano/violin duets out of the new books my mom gave me. 

  It felt like Sabbath!  :)  It was also wonderful to hear from so many of you on FaceBook today!!!  Thanks so much for your prayers and well wishes.~

Thankful for safe travels...

Andrew just arrived home.  He said he almost went in the ditch twice South of Hurdsfield, as it was just so slippery, but he made it safe and sound.  (Thanks, Lord!)

I was over babysitting most of the day.  Johanna and Tracy Jo are fighting colds, so we all took it easy and played indoors. 

My mom and Jacob went and got the Azure order this morning at Dawson.  It is SO nice to have good food again.  Frozen berries anyone?  Yummy!

Short a member...

My dad, brothers and I loaded up the one bred heifer and 3 light-weight calves we had this morning and Andrew took off for the Turtle Mountains.  His trip was dual-purpose I believe, both for the purpose of delivering the cattle and for visiting our B. friends up there after the delivery was completed.  :)  He'll be back tomorrow evening sometime, I'm guessing.  We were glad to hear that the roads were good all the way there, even after the recent snowstorm.

My parents went to Bismarck today for several purposes (farm loan paperwork; clients; shopping).  When they arrived home, I was just finishing up with Jacob's haircut, so they "Let" me finish, then sent me to my room for a while, as they said there were things I couldn't see in the boxes they brought home.  Hmmmmm....  I guess that's what happens when your birthday is just 2 days away.  ;) 

I made some yummy coconut flour muffins today, banana flavored with chopped walnuts for extra yumminess.  I also experimented with some seasoned flax/almond crackers. 

This evening, my parents weren't home yet at chores time, so Jacob fed the cows and calves and I did all of the milking (all 1 cow and 2 goats).   It is such a blessing to have milk!  But, I think I've said that before?

Until tomorrow evening, happy living and God bless!

Blizzard.

A blizzard it is!  Cold, snowing, and blowing.  Brrrrrrrrr, my room is cold tonight.  I think I'll sleep on the couch.

It was a productive morning in the kitchen...  I baked bread and pizza crust; made yogurt (then strained half of it to make Greek yogurt); made Quaso Blanco cheese; put a roast in the oven; made spaghetti and sauce for lunch with fried homemade cheese; and whipped together some healthy chocolate later this afternoon. 

Then, there was the never-ending laundry to do; seed catalogs to look through (again); ND Home school convention details to arrange; we sorted off one of my heifers that some friends are buying (and preg. checked her); dehorned Andrew's Holstein calf; then the guys worked in the shop; my dad went to town with the corn check that finally arrived in the mail (hooray!!!); Mom and Jacob cut up rags for the shop while listening to a farming class on DVDs for school;  I read in my very interesting new health book "Trim Healthy Mama"; and we watched a YouTube video of a very talented juggler...  (It gets better further into the video).  :)

Yesterday felt like Spring...

...tonight reminds us that Spring is still coming, sometime.

It was a pretty usual day today.  My dad and brothers worked in the shop.  Andrew had a guy come for a computer.  My mom did sessions for clients.  I spent time in the kitchen and doing laundry. 

And now, it is raining.  That part isn't usual.

A friends' birthday party...

 

Yesterday, I spent the first half of the day (from 8-5) babysitting for our neighbor's, then I drove home quickly (1 1/2 miles) and hopped in the pickup with Andrew to head for the Geiger's house to join them in celebrating Miranda's birthday with an evening of fun and games.  The guys had filled/loaded up 5 totes of grain on Andrew's trailer to take to the G. family for their chickens, so we first had to stop in Bismarck and get it weighed before heading out to the Geiger's place.  It ended up being 7:00 until we finally got to the G.'s house.  We ate some of their tasty food, then played games until all hours of the night/morning (card games mostly, and "The Game of Things").    Miranda had figured out that, between the two of us, our ages add up to 1/2 century!  It is hard to believe we're so "ancient".  ;)

 

Miranda, one of her younger sisters and I headed out for the little (heated) cabin after midnight and watched a couple of "Sue Thomas F.B.Eye" shows and talked just a little bit before deciding we'd celebrated enough and should get at least a few hours of sleep.  :)  When I woke up at 7:00 this morning and went in the house, I found a couple of the boys up already (Andrew included), mixing up pancakes for our breakfast.  Yummy! 

As more sleepyheads made their appearance, we started playing card games again (Pit and Golden 10) until 10:00, when we started gathering our things and headed out.  After weighing the pickup and empty trailer once more and filling up with fuel, we went home and arrived just in time for lunch.  The rest of the day was spent in a lazy manner (reading, playing games, watching movies, etc, etc, etc...).

It is a special treat to spend time with friends!