Home From Seeing Granddaughter Jaelyn

I got home this morning and miss them already! It is so much fun to have this cute little girl smiling & cooing at me. She is so alert and is always making little sounds. Last night I babysat for her while Krisitin & Tim went to the last Bradley game. She was sleeping when they left but woke up soon after. I feed her a bottle (of breast milk) and we hung out for a while. Then she fell asleep until they got home. The visit wasn't long enough, but I will fit them in whenever I can. Steve & I will be going down there in a couple weeks again.

This weekend we ARE going to the farm. With work so busy since the new year, we need the time off. We would love to go to the MOSES (Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service) Conference this weekend in LaCrosse, but feel like we NEED to be at the farm. Can't believe we have gone this long without being there. We'll be picking up more drywall on the way in case we decide to get busy on that again. It'll be good to see the neighbors and catch up with what is going on. I am hoping that Eli & Lizzie's goat hasn't been loose, grazing on all of our bushes while we are gone. Their livestock tends to be on our farm a lot. We seriously need to get some good fencing done this year. The cows & horses haven't done too much damage, but a goat eats everything I hear.

Not such a bad snow after all.

Our winter storm turned out to be so so. Not sure of the final total but I know it is nowhere near 6-8 inches that they ended up calling for last night. At least they downgraded it from the 8-12 they originally predicted.

Steve made it home around 1:30 this morning. The flight was delayed and the roads were terrible, but he made it. Had good skiing the whole time and is very tired today. He made it into work by eight. He'll probably be sleeping by eight tonight :-)

Tomorrow I'm going to see Jaelyn (and Kristin & Tim :-). So excited! She had her six week checkup today and is doing great. I'll stay over night & come back Wednesday night. Just a short visit but at least I will be abe to see that cute smile in person.

Saturday, I went over to Amy's to see her in her wedding dress. She looked beautiful. I won't describe it because Rob reads this sometimes. Her friend Lee is throwing her a shower a month from now and made some really elegant looking invitations from a kit. I thought they were professionally done. The wedding will be here before we know it.

When Steve got to work today, he noticed that the hub caps were gone on the van. Someone stole them over the weekend! I was there Saturday afternoon, so it must have been after that. We filed a report with the police and the officer said there have been car break-ins on our street. We don't keep any tools in the van so they didn't try that. We are going to start pulling the van in at night now. Hub caps like ours are around $125 a piece. Ouch!
Hope everyone survived the storm. How much did you get?

New Pictures of Jaelyn

She is so sweet. I couldn't resist a little "bragging Grandma" pics.

Another Snow Storm On the Way

Could be one of the snowiest February's on record in Illinois, the meteorologist's say. Eight to twelve inches is expected starting late afternoon through Monday afternoon. Steve is getting home tonight from Colorado. Not real positive on that with the weather. It is snowing out there now. They have a 3 hour drive from the ski resort to the Denver airport. He is skiing this morning. One last good run for the season then off to the airport. I told him he should buy some good snacks for the airport. Could be waiting awhile if they start canceling flights. I hope not. I miss him. Yes, it's nice to have time to myself, but only for a while. I can only sleep in for so many days (not true :-), not worry about what to make for dinner, and generally do what ever I feel like for so long. But everyone needs some structure to their life & I really don't have any when he's not here. 

Yesterday, while out on a walk, I was thinking about anticipaton. The anticipation of the snow storm. I really enjoy that stage. It's exciting before it happens. I think everyone has a survival instinct (at least I hope so) stemming from the olden days when there wasn't a grocery store every couple miles or so and a Walgreen's on every corner. I remember the big ice storm we had as kids and losing power for a week. A family of six, sleeping in the basement where it was warmer, using the fireplace during the day for heat. Eating cold sandwiches, wearing our coats inside. To us kids, it was an adventure. I'm sure my parents didn't feel that way. Yesterday I went to the grocery store (which is within walking distance) and it was packed. I expected that though. Not to many people have enough stored to withstand not going to the grocery store every few days. I admit, I am there every other day. My diet of mostly fresh, living foods makes that mandatory. But, that said, I also have stores of food on hand that we could make do on for quite a while and ways to prepare it without using electricity. When we finally do move to the farm, we'll even be more prepared. I'll have more room to store canned and dried foods. At the townhouse, we are limited. Some things are here & some are at the farm. Especially since cleaning the house to get it in that "for sale & I must look like a model" phase.

Last night I watched the movie "UP". Has anyone else seen it? Did you cry? I did. About four times.

I am going to stop writing and get out of bed. Yes it's noon :-). (I read past midnight) Yes I'm being totally lazy. Yes, I will probably have to have a beer to get to sleep tonight.
So give me all your good vibes and get Steve home safely tonight...

Dress I bought for Amy's wedding

A Fun Day...Just What I Needed

I started the day the way I like to start but never seem to have happen. I slept in. Yes, all the way until 9:30. What a luxury. It felt so good to lay there & know that my body was well-rested. I even made it last longer by lounging around all morning. You know, sometimes you need to do that. I felt awake all day.
 My friend Pat & I went lunch at the Moveable Feast in Geneva. It is a really cute little store/restaurant/catering business. My food was so good. I had a pesto fingerling potato dish and an apple, pear, grape with greens salad & a fruit salad. It's like gourmet deli style. Even Oprah likes it. Their brownies are on her "favorite things" list. I will be going back again soon to try more dishes in the near future.
After that I went to the shop to get the mail & check messages. All was well. So I decided to go shopping (which I rarely do, except for groceries). I found a dress for Amy's wedding. Yea!!! I have been looking online for a month or two. The one dress I really liked online seemed like it would be too long for a shorty like me but I found almost the exact same dress only shorter by the same designer. Now I just have to figure out what shoes to wear with it...
Once I got home, I called our internet provider to see what was up with our connection. Steve & I tried to install wireless  before he left & I haven't had service since on our desk top computer. I have been using the laptop with, shhhhh, someone else's wireless signal. Well, all is fixed now thanks to Amy & Rob. They came over tonight, fixed the computer & I am legal now with the laptop. Big sigh...
I talked to Steve tonight. They have great snow in Colorado & it was snowing like crazy an hour ago. Sounds like another good day tomorrow.
So Mia is curled up beside me on the couch, doing a little snore thing and I am thinking about going to
bed to read.
Tomorrow is a big day...I get to see Amy's wedding dress.
Here is another picture of Jaelyn...

The Sunshine Award!

This is so nice. Two awards in a week! Thank you Pacy from Pacy Crochets. Please check out her blog. She lives in Missouri on 5 acres, likes to croquet, read & live the simple life.

The rules of accepting this award are:
Put the logo on the sidebar or within a post
Pass the award on to 12 blogger's who brighten your day
Link to the nominees within your post
Let the nominees know they received this award by commenting on their blog
Link back to the person who gave you this award, as a way of showing your appreciation for being appreciated.
So here are my twelve...
Not Now..I'm Counting
A One Acre Homestead in Ohio
All Natural Mama
Happy Days
Rainbow Rivers Journey
My Freezer is Full
Farm Tails
Homespun Simplicity
Lilacs and Cats
Living SoGaNoFla
The Blue Ridge Gal
Living Off-Grid at Maple Valley Farm

Phew! That's a lot of work!

Family News

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with posting the last couple of days. It hasn't been the normal routine as of late. My mom fell & broke her hip a few days ago. My brother & I went to see her yesterday afternoon in the hospital and she was pretty confused. Her surgery was the day before so I'm not sure if it was due to the pain meds or from being under for the surgery. She lives in an assisted living facility now but will move from the hospital to either a rehab center or a nursing home for rehab until she is able to get around. She is 80 so it might take a while. Unfortunately, she is not a good patient. That is why she is in assisted living. She tends to drag all illnesses, etc. to the max. Likes all the attention. Kind of reverts to acting like a child. I've seen it all my life. I guess that's why I'm the exact opposite of her. :-) Oh well...
On the home front, Steve left for Colorado skiing yesterday with the ski club. This is the second year I've decided to stay home. I really want to save the money for the farm (and I don't ski anyway). I will miss hanging out with the people in the club though. He said they have new snow & the skiing was good today. Everyone is having some kind of effects from the high altitude though. Steve had a headache yesterday along with a lot of the others on the trip. Our friend George's fiancee' had to get a bottle of oxygen from the clinic out there. Before Steve left he started to drink a lot of water and take a ginkgo biloba supplement. Ginkgo has been proven in double blind study to reduce the severity of altitude sickness. 80mg twice a day was the doseage. This is from The Textbook of Natural Medicine (one of my school books). It's also beneficial for Raynaud's Disease (where the tips of your fingers & toes turn white in the cold).
Jaelyn and family are doing fine. I am missing them so much. I am thinking of going there next week for the day to tide me over until Steve & I go for a weekend. When I talk to Kristin on the phone, Jaelyn is cooing in the backround. Makes me miss her even more. Tim is doing great since his appendix was taken out.
Amy & Rob are busy making wedding plans. I'm going over to the house to see her wedding dress on Saturday. Can't wait :-). They got their engagement pictures taken Tuesday and they are really cute. So many good ones to choose from. The wedding is in mid-May. I still have to find a dress. I've been looking online (I'm not much of a store shopper) but haven't come across the right one yet.
Tomorrow I'm going to lunch with Pat from Not Now... I'm Counting blog. We've been friends for quite a while now. We met through ski club. Neither one of us skiis so we hang out together & shop & knit.
I have been taking daily walks & am up to two miles now. I walk fast. Usually get done in 20 minutes or so. Working my way up to 4 miles. It's nice now that the days are getting longer & the birds are chirpping. Spring is on the way.