Taking a ride down to the pasture

Ben came over this afternoon after we were home from church and getting groceries at the Hy-Vee grocery store.
I asked him if he wanted to drive the John Deere lawn tractor down to the pasture to the creek.. He said "Alright". his favorite saying right now. He saw my camera and wanted to take it along.. I told him "sure"..
So these are the pictures that Ben took today with my camera.. I thought for a 4 year old he really did a great job.
This is one of my blue bird houses that the red-winged blackbirds sit on top and won't let the bluebirds nest.


I thought this was really nice. Shows all the colors of fall. even thou the grass is still green. We haven't had a hard frost yet.

He got off the lawn tractor to take this one.. He took 5 and only 1 was a clear picture of this maple tree just beginning to grow...

Ben thought this was cool. Neighbor boy, Connor built the primitive bridge across the small creek. There is a small building that he built on the other side of the pasture .

Good ole milk weed exploding it's seed to fly like dancing ballerina's across the pasture.

Ben loves to get ahold of the seed pods and pull the seeds out and let them fly into the air..

It was a beautiful day again and just perfect for taking a ride down to the pasture and taking pictures . We had a great time~!

Have a great Monday everyone.. ta ta for now... from Iowa

Happy Halloween~!

It was dark outside and I told Ben "Let's go take a picture of your pumpkin..~! He said 'O.K.
He was so excited when he saw his pumpkin all aglow with all the lights off in the kitchen. all he could say was "WOW"...
Happy Halloween Everyone~!~!

It was a beautiful Saturday~!

Went over to Tracie's house today to play with Ben so she could study . He first put on the table two things he really loves... Nibbles and his new lego truck that he made yesterday..

He wanted to take his trains outside SOOO he has this tonka piece of carpeting and he put that out on the sidewalk first.. then I gave him the green basket to carry all his trains,tracks and anything else outside.. He is one happy boy..He has his blue sock on over his cast so it keeps out the dirt. It was such a beautiful day out today it would be a shame to stay inside. While we were outside I had him help me wash some of the windows . We used the safety ladder and he climbed up that ladder and sprayed the window cleaner and then took a paper towel to clean and dry the window.. He loved it~! I wish I had taken at least one picture. He was so proud of himself.. Of course, GranAnnie helped him with the windows..
Now he has his train track all set up and the different tunnels ect. HE even has a ferris wheel that the trains get onto and go around one time and off they go on to the track.. He must of played by himself for at least 1/2 hour by himself.. He had a great time.

He found a wooly worm and was so afraid of it.. I picked up the worm and convinced him to hold it in his hand.. He trusted me and here he is holding the wooly worm... He put it on the grass and it crawled away.. He thought this worm was pretty nice after he found out it wouldn't bite him.

We had a great day and now I'm home. Hope you all had a great Saturday... ta ta for now from Iowa.

Carving Pumpkins with Ben and putting together Lego truck.

Stayed the night at Tracie's house last night (Thursday) and didn 't take Ben to Day-care on Friday. I decided we would have one big playdate day..
This morning after he watched Curious George and had our breakfast ~ I went outside and got one of the pumpkins that I had grown in my garden and decided this would be a good time to carve the pumpkin. Oh Ben was so excited~! Tracie has carving tools for doing this and it was wonderful..Ben helped me scoop out the seeds and pulp.. He didn't like getting his hands all gooby. HE helped with the carving of the eyes~nose~mouth.. The hair was too hard for him so he just watched me.. I love the carving tools that one can buy.. I'm going to go buy me a set for next year. HE also loved not having to go to daycare.


After lunch we put together another lego truck.. He is getting so good at putting these things together. We look at the picture step by step and he grabs the piece and adds it to the last step. This is for age 6+, with help Ben gets it together for the most part by himself.. I'm amazed..~!

We then worked on his flash cards of letters and numbers. He really liked that and had a good time with me. For every right answer he would get a M&M. I really can't believe what is required of 4 years olds to know for school. When I went to 1st grade ~ I didn't have to know anything. The teacher taught it all to us. (no Kindergarten when I started school). How things have changed.. I guess that is why parents send their kids to pre-school nowadays.


Here is Ben focused on putting his lego truck together. He has washable tempera paint all over his shirt, we did some marble paintings today.. He loved it~! Thanks to the girls that I follow with their blogs they give me plenty of ideas to do with Ben..
He really gets focused when he works on anything.

After we got this done we played Thomas the Train~! Oh such fun is that . We race around the track and when we get to the covered bridge and to the otherside, that is the finish line.. He always has to win and then the dancing starts and it's a real hoopla...He doesn't like it when I win.. I told him he needs to use his good manners and let GranAnnie win once in awhile.. I just can't manuver around that train table like he does. But once in awhile I do and I win and oh boy ~! I'm trying to instill in him about being a good loser. At this age he is very competitive.. Look out Aunt Jodie when you come to play.




I have to laugh at how he poses for pictures now.. He thinks he has to put his head down and then he says Thursday.. He has his favorite things on the table,,, His beloved rabbit "Nibbles", his lego truck, his new Buzz Light lazer...
Tracie got home at 6 tonight and we ran into Culvers for supper .Drive - thru.. Ben ate his hot dog on the way home and then got the horseradish out for his fries when we got home. Just like his mama.. Horseradish on good delicious fries? not me.

Got home this evening at 9:30..It was good to come back into my own house. When I left, Ben was settling down in bed with his MaMa and Rocco the dog and of course Nibbles. It was a good day and I'm going to go to bed and get a good nights sleep. I'm suppose to go tomorrow evening and judge an event for the Girl Scouts in our area. It's Juliet Low's birthday.. She is the founder of Girl Scouting, which I was for 10 years. I loved being a scout and earned the highest badge one could earn at that time.
Friday is almost over so I'll just say "Have a great Saturday"... ta ta for now from Iowa...

Spider Man is here for Halloween~!

When I picked up Ben yesterday from daycare. First thing he said was "Take me to Mama's house, please ".. I said Okey Dokey. It was so windy he had a hard time standing up just to get to the door.. I hurridly got all my stuff gathered and we both got to the door without falling down.
He saw this red thing on the kitchen table and picked it up and said "GranAnnie whats this?".. I said Oh Ben this is your Halloween Costume.. Spider Man.. I no more than said that and he was stripping off his clothes.. I got it on him and put on the mask.. You can see through the mesh and see his eyes.. They are so excited~! Couldn't get the leg over his cast but that's O.K.. It will work..~! He said "I need a mirror".. So I took him to his room where there is a full length mirror.. Oh my ~ he was puffed up.. He started growling.. I told him Spider Man doesn't growl.. So he put both of his arms up and showed off his puffy muscles and then growled. Oh I wished I had taken a picture of that.. He was so cute.
So today he took his costume to pre-school and it will be fun to hear what he has to say when I go and pick him up here in a few minutes.

Went to neighbors house for a cup of tea.. She is so delightful~! We had a great time visiting and sharing ideas on raising children.. She is 43 with 4 children ages from 10 to 18 and I'm 66 with 4 children and all grown up.. Now I have grandchildren. I told her about some of the gals that I look at their blogs and she wrote down the name of their blogs.. I told her I love reading all the ideas, crafts, and things that I learn from these girls. Of course I told her take a look at my blog. Now I wish I had taken a picture of her.. Well, next time I'll do that. We had a great 2 hours of sharing and visiting. She used to ride my school bus when I used to drive . She has 2 sisters and they were always prompt in getting on the bus.. I had a good time and now I have supper in the oven and it's time to go get Ben. I will be taking him to his MaMa's house.
The wind finally quit and now it's just cold outside.. 39 degrees for right now.. It was 26 this morning.. just on the chilly side of my liking. But glad the wind has s-l-o-w-e-d way down. My birds are thankful too. The feeders have been busy after the last 3 days.. Won't have to rake yard this fall. All the leaves blew onto the road and into the neighbors property. Well have to pick up all the limbs and sticks in the yard..which is O.K. that is easier than raking.
Have a great Thursday~~ ta ta for now~!~! from Iowa

Wednesday and very windy day~!

Don't know if you can see the difference...this is the lilac tree right outside my window where my computer is~ it's almost leafless. First picture is when the wind started, the 2nd picture is two days after the wind attacked it. We have had this endless wind since Monday night and it has not let up. We have huge limbs scattered around the yard.. the cornstalks are blowing into the yard from the cornfield. The poor birds are crash landing on the bird feeders just to get food. While they are on the feeders it's swinging madly back and forth. It's a struggle for them.. I went out to get the mail a minute ago and goodness to be if it didn't escape my arms and I had to chase after it across the road. Good thing the neighbor has a fence across their property, it was fastened to the barb wire fence. I got to the house and couldn't get back in the back door, wind way too strong. SO I went to the front door and knocked on the door for hubby to let me inside.. He says "What are you doing?" It's just too windy to use the back door.

It's 47 degrees outside and a bit chilly. Talked with my son that lives in Chicago and he said they have no electricity and it's very cold and windy there too. Hard to drive your car down the road.

Here is the picture of the same tree today.. The sun was shining this morning ~ still windy and still cold..

It would be a great day to fly a kite if one had the strength to hold onto the string..

Have been reading a good book most of the day.. Sandra Dallas wrote this book called Prayers For Sale.. Her books always relate around someone in the story that quilts. The story is in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.. So far it's really good.

Almost time to pick up Ben at day-care. I have lots of projects we are going to work on thanks to some gals in my blogging world..

Such fun Ben and I have with these craft projects.. Daughter Tracie goes to her massage school tonight and tomorrow night.. So it's great~ Ben and I get to spend some time together. Making things and playing games. I made lasagna for supper, taking some of it over to Tracie's house for our supper. it smells so good. Have a great Wednesday ~~ Ta Ta For Now...

The finished Spanish Monster..So Cute~~~

I tried to add this to my blog below but just couldn't get it done. Rich sent me a picture of the finished Spanish Monster.. I asked him what she used for the eyes and he said ping pong balls... of course..Very cute idea, I think for the Spanish teacher and I'll bet when the kids brought them all to school there was such a variety of Monsters...Makes one want to smile.. say "Cheese".

Good Job my Sparky Girl~!~!~! Love Ya..

Doug Recker is a tiggeriffic dentist~!

Went to dentist this morning on a very windy day~!~! Goodness to be~ glad I don't wear a wig, it would of flown into the next county. Lots of tree limbs down in people's yards.. Hard keeping the Benny Mobile on the road..

Doug Recker ~ I think is the best dentist I have ever had.. I'm his Number #1 fan... He is such a cool guy and he does a really great job on my teeth. He looks pretty silly with that eyeball in his eye.. OH LOOK it matches my shirt.. very thoughtful..LOL..~! He has a great sense of humor...
After having my fall on August 22 with Ben accidentally tripping me with the garden hose and me falling face down on the cement ~ 3 of my teeth were crushed into the cement and through my lower lip. (I'm still picking fragments out of my lip). Went to Hospital for stitches and ta da my lip looks pretty good~hmmm? Look at those teeth,, they are just temporary but man oh man they look good.. You should see me without them...I would look good in a horror house for Halloween.
I always look forward to going to the dentist because he takes such good care of my teeth and me, and the girls he has in his office tiggeriffic. They are so wonderful and they take time to make me feel welcome and hear my stories..

This is Jenny, I hope I have her name correct and spelled correct.. that is so important.. I'm pretty critical if someone doesn't put the "e" on the end of my name "Anne".. It's just naked without the "e". So I hope I have her name right. She is such a beautiful girl and what a great helper she is to Dr. Recker. She should get a big bonus for doing such a great job~! I forgot my Dove award this morning to give to all of them this morning. Next time I'll remember. Big thing I forgot to do this morning was take my medication that I'm suppose to take 1 hour before I even get to the dentist's office..(I have a knee replacement and am suppose to take clindamycin) I cheated and looked at the spelling on the bottle. Yikes~! I told the girls up front after they asked me if I had taken it..oops~! SO Dr. Recker told me to take it as soon as I got home.. Mission Accomplished~!
I go back on Monday and get my real teeth and I'll take them all the Dove Awards I have for them... If you need a great dentist here is the place to go.. Boyson Dental~ 1475 Boyson Road~ Hiawatha, Iowa..

This cute chick is my granddaughter, Kelly. I call her my "Sparky Girl".. She is so special and she calls me on the phone a lot, she lives in Barrington, Ill. Her dad Rich is my son..she is now 11 years old and in the 6th grade. She is taking Spanish this year and made a Spanish Monster. She will use the monster to write all his body parts in Spanish..I think his lips and teeth are very clever. Chiclets teeth, and one of those baby bell cheese coverings for lips. His nose looks like a chinese fortune cookie. Oh how much fun is that~! Good Work Kelly~! It looks good right down to the painted fingernails...

Fixed my lunch ~ had grits .. My sister that lives in South Carolina got me started on liking them. Had a cup of hot tea and now I'm ready for a nap.. The novacane is wearing off and it's just a good day to take a nap. Have a good rest of the day~! It's Tuesday... Ta ta For Now

Elections are almost here~!

Since I have such a hard time blogging without a picture I thought this would work.. Here's Ben holding up two balloons with Black dots on them to represent bug eyed...

That's how the politicians are right now...bug eyed~! Staying up late, calling, calling, having postal service put things in my mailbox daily, TV advertising and making speeches. I'll be so glad when it's over... Next week I will be working at the Brown Township polling place in Springville Library, from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. or later. But I make money doing this...$168.00.. It's a long day sitting, but I have a great time helping people. Have to check to make sure they are in the register book, have them sign their name and then give them a ballot to be able to vote. I really do enjoy doing this , I get to see people I haven't seen since last election.. The boy scouts bring us cookies , which I think its great.. Now that they know I have sugar diabetes they make me a few sugar-free cookies. That is so thoughtful..

After the election school I went to this morning from 10 to noon I stopped by Tracie's house and found her in bed with a bad cold.. I fixed us a good lunch and then she practiced on massaging my legs (upper/lower) even my butt. She is going to massage school to be a massage therapist.. Man oh Man that felt so good. She has classes tonight and had one more body that she had to give a massage to before this evening. Glad I stopped..It's so great we have one daughter that is a pharmacist and we"ll soon have the other daughter giving massages...How sweet is that~! After a massage I just have to remember to drink a lot of water.. Which one should do everyday. But after having a massage she says there are toxins that need to be washed out of the body... drink-drink-drink-...gulp-gulp-gulp~!

Tomorrow I get to go to the dentist and have my new teeth put in from the fall I had in August 22. I have had to go with temporaries all this time and the last month it's been a pain in the neck.. They keep falling out. I wouldn't be bothered so much ~ the teeth that broke on that eventful day were 3 of my front teeth. What a gap it makes when the temporary teeth fall out.. Dentist gave me this cement/glue and it works ~ somedays for a day and other times for 2 days.. It will be good tomorrow to not have to worry about them falling out.. hopefully.

It's supper time and guess I best go make something good to eat.. Dave just got back from golfing and he said "lets eat"... so ta ta for now...

The last of my garden flowers~!

Had to fix snack rabbit's head today.. When Ben was here last time he put the head on too hard and it broke.. I bought some Quick Grip Glue and now I have it all back together.. The snack rabbit hold treats for Ben . He loves it and goes to the snack rabbit first thing when he gets out of the car. I bought this rabbit cookie jar at a garage sale for 25 cents. HE loves it~!

My garden is nearing the end of a great summer. Fall is here and there are many signs that it's here until next Spring. It's 62 degrees right now and very nice outside. It looks like it could rain, but I think it's just going to be a cloudy day... I took the screens off my kitchen window, living room windows and this room where my computer is. Without screens it just brightens up the room. I remembered to mark them this year ~ so I can get them back in the right window next spring.. I'm sure it will make it easier to put them back on .

Today at church our Pastor's sermon was on being a submissive wife.. Yikes~! I don't like that thought. Sharing our roles of husband and wife is more to my liking. We will be married 50 years in Feb. 11. So far sharing has worked...

My friend this morning told me her husband just found out he has Type 2 diabetes.. Dave and I both have it and at first it's really hard to admit let alone want to go along with what you have to eat and check your blood sugar level daily. But it's something that goes along with diabetes. I gave her some of my cook books, and litature.. It's something one has to take serious and do what it says. Walking 30 minutes a day helps tremendously, keeping your weight down is another. So this year, so far, I have lost 25 pounds. Plan on losing another 10... Get to 160...that would be nice. I was at 192..pounds. Being a lover of chocolate I had many changes to do..no more fried foods, no potatoes, lima beans, peas, corn,carrots,raisens,to name a few. and chocolate? I can have dark chocolate which I love... Thanks to Dove candies they have dark chocolate... Sometimes I carry them around and give them to people who have done a good job. Like the cashier that checks out your groceries. the mailperson, a waitress ~the list goes on. I call it giving them a Dove Award>> They all are surprised and love it~!

Time for my Sunday afternoon nap~! Have a great Sunday ~! Ta Ta For Now.....

Love this flower. Not sure what it is, but it's beautiful....the hummingbirds liked it a lot...

Ben getting new cast~ with Nibbles

It's Friday . Took Benny to the Dr. office to have a look at his cast. He has worn the toe part off where he walks to where it's making it hard to walk. It hurts him to walk on it and now he is back to crawling. 9 o'clock is the appointment. and Off we go.~!

He is getting so heavy to carry that when we get inside I find a wheel chair for him to sit. HE is loving this..~! His name is called and off we go to the room where the nurse will be looking at his cast. Two girls come in and decide he needs a new cast. I thought when they brought out the saw or whatever that thing is called they cut the cast off with would scare him... He said "That tickles" and laughs.. Cast is off and everything looks good. A little amount of sand on his leg and he laughs,,bottom of his foot is wrinkled... "Wrinkled he says like a raisen". His foot sweats and causes moisture and of course it wrinkles... I was so glad that everything looked good.. So on goes the new cast sock and all the gook that goes with applying a cast. His leg is hurting and he tells them.. "Hurt-hurt". SO I start tellling him a story that he likes about Dixie and her beloved bunny called Knuffle Bunny go and visit Oma and Ofa in Holland with his mom and dad.. Good thing I remember all the story, I ask him questions about what is next in the story and he is now focused on trying to remember. Plus I bring out the stars.. The daycare made a rectangle paper with 4 stars velcrowed on it to let him know about how long something will take.. So I told the gal that was applying the cast to let him know when he could take off a star. (I love this idea). So between me telling him the story and the nurse saying 'Take off a star" his mind was occupied. Ta Da 4th star off and we are all done. Ben is a happy guy. He hops back into the wheel chair with my help and we can now leave. He wants to go to McDonalds.

So GranAnnie goes to McDonalds and gets him a sauceage sandwich and hashbrown with chocolate milk.. M-that was good , he ate it all. We then went to Wal-mart his favorite store. I bought him one more train to go with his Thomas the Train and a buzz light hand held video game.. This game is so cool~! Took him to his Mommy's home and we made a marble picture on paper with temera paints.. That was pretty cool. Infact we made several. He put together his 100 piece puzzle . He has put this puzzle together so many times he just knows where the pieces go. He is so smart.. Very good with eye /hand coordination. We had a great day and I even got him to take a nap... He is now walking on the cast and everything is back to normal.. He is running again...2 more weeks of the cast and then well see if the bone has healed. Like he says "To Infinity and Beyond"... What a boy.~!

It's a blue Wednesday~!

Yesterday I went out to lunch with the gal that cuts my hair. We always go out to lunch and talk about a variety of things. Karen is an artist and she makes pottery.. My daughter's birthday was in September and goodness to be I'm just picking up her present. Now Jodie as you look at these two casserole bowls tell me which one you like? Karen says you can bake in them, serve soup in them. I thought they were really pretty and she did a great job. I'll send the one to you ~ you like..just let me know..

After Karen and I had lunch we went back to her shop and she cut my hair.. Oh it needed it so badly.. Getting your haircut just makes one feel so much better. Very uplifting.. no more bad hair days.

I didn't think I had any pictures to put on my blog ..until I remembered the cassarole dishes that are above this picture.

I have a hard time blogging without a picture.. I thought this was so cute of Ben,,and I love Barbie's boar goats. The sun was so bright that day, he still smiled and said "thursday"..that's our new word for getting a great smile.cheese is just not good anymore. Seems that the word thursday they hold the smile longer.

the ideas we have to come up with to get a good smile.

This picture is from a barn I saw while driving down the road on our trip to Pa. this September. I remember my Grandpa used to chew this tobacco.. He loved his chew.

I'll bet those trees in the background are beautiful hues of reds, browns,oranges,yellow right now. I love the mountains of Pa. and all the forests.

Well, yesterday while having lunch with Karen, Tracie (Ben's mom) called me and said Ben was having a bad day at daycare and the director had called to see if someone could pick him up after his nap between 2:00 and 2:30.. I said sure I should be done getting my haircut and I can pick him up.. My sewing machine was in the fix-it shop and not too far from where I was. So I picked it up and then went to get Ben.. It was so cute. One of the girls was reading him a book. He loves to be read to and he loves books. Today(Thursday) we are going to stop by the library to pick up his favorite book "Otis".. It's about a red farmall tractor...(even thou he likes John Deere). He is starting to like the red ones.. After I picked up Ben at daycare we went to Hy-Vee grocery store and got much needed groceries. I had a bunch of pop cans to re-cycle (here in Iowa we get 5cents for each can). So we put the cans into a cart and Ben and I went to that section of Hy-Vee. They have places where you put plastic bottles, cans, glass bottles and there is a door where you insert each item.. We only had cans.. So he helped me put them into the machine and he pushed the button to get a receipt. Da Ta we now have a receipt that says we will get back $2.30 when we get our groceries bought. We had a great time until we got to the check-out counter. WHY do grocery stores put all those candy bars in the places where you check out. He picked up a pkg. of M&M's and threw them across the store... I guess he thought it was a football or something. The check-out boys had a good laugh..Luckily I got him passed the candy and he started helping me with all the things in my cart and putting them on the moving belt where one puts their groceries for check out. Yikes, he was moving faster than the check-out person could go and they started piling up. I finally got him distracted and we paid for those groceries and got out of there but not before he saw the movie section with Thomas the Trains new dvd... Of course, we had to buy it because I had promised him I would next time we went to the store.. So I gave him the money and he bought the dvd all by himself.. He was so proud.. with his DVD in the Hy-Vee bag he proudly walked out of the store, out to the car, into his seat.... Yeah~! Drove to the pick up grocery place and the boys put our groceries into the car.. Now to get to the house get them unpacked put away and get him to his house. Mission accomplished~~! Grandpa Dee Dee was there to help get them in the house. Ben ran to his snack rabbit in the garden and that kept him busy for awhile. Marshmallows with few Starbursts.. he found today.. Thank goodness for the snack rabbit..

Ben's mom, Tracie has school tonight so I take care of Ben while she does that. We had supper and then he watched his new dvd Thomas the Train. He sat there for the whole time. SI was glad for that. We went outside to play. He is running now with the cast and I told Tracie she needs to call the Dr. The flat part of his cast is worn off in the toe area and he is walking on the side of his foot.. Doesn't look good. Hopefully she calls me soon to see what the Dr. had to say.. The rest of the evening we played candy land, Hi Ho cherry-O and Cootie.. then it's time for a game of Super Nintendo "Toy Story". I let him play until he has gone through all his lives (5).. then it's story time and teeth brushing and off to bed... Whew.. this GranAnnie is worn out and ready for bed too. Ben is a busy boy ~!

Cavatini ~a great last minute meal

"Cavatini"
I made this last night for supper and it's so quick and easy and so delicious. Dave likes it and that is all that matters. I make it when company comes or potlucks for church. If I fix someone a meal from our church or neighbor this is usually what I take for them to eat.

Here goes:
Cavatini~~~

1 pound of ground beef or turkey.. (I use beef)
1 cup chopped green or red bell pepper
1 cup chopped onion
1 (6oz) tomato paste
1 cup water
1 small can sliced mushrooms drained
1/3 cup of ripe olives
1 T. pizza seasonings or Italian seasoning
1 cup of shredded Kraft Cheddar Cheese
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups cooked pasta, any variety or varieties.. ( I use Rotini )

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet sprayed with olive-flavored cooking spray, brown meat, green or red pepper and onion. Add tomato paste, water, mushrooms, olives, pizza seasonings, pasta and Cheddar cheese. Spoon mixture into an 9x9 baking dish sprayed with olive-flavored cooking spray.. Cover and bake 30 minutes. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and continue baking until cheese melts about 6 minutes. (I put the mozzarella cheese on right away for 30 minutes of baking. I take tinfoil off and bake another 6 minutes)
Serves 6
253 calories

HINT: 1 3/4 cups Hunt's Chunky tomato sauce (15 oz) may be used in place of tomato paste and water.
I got this recipe from Healthy Exchanges Food Newsletter CookBook by Joanna M. Lund

Ben playing "Toy Story" Nintendo.

Having a lazy day after being with Ben all week-end.. He has had my Super Nintendo game for a month now and he is pretty good playing the games.. He loves Toy Story and Ben's mom, Tracie found this game on Amazon. So Ben & I played the game while his Mom studied.. She is going to school to be a massage therapist.. The good thing is I get free massages...and it feels so good.
Notice the Toy Story poster hanging in his room...He tells Buzz goodnight everynight.. with a flying like Buzz "up to infinity"... His arms are flapping away.. It's so cute. I just have to laugh at him...of course he is laughing too..



He is working on putting stickers on the lego car Tracie bought him.. I wish I had taken picture of the car... He laid out the directions and followed it step by step.. "Do myself" he would say.. He put it together all by himself..
On the box it says for 5+ years old.. He is almost 4.. Nov.12.. Tracie and I just watch with amazment.. he can really get it done "all by himself".

In between Nintendo games we are looking at the pictures on my phone.. He loves to look at Uncle Rich, Kelly, John, Emily , Lisa and her girl Sophia. He loves Aunt Jodie and wanted to call her when he saw her picture. She must of been busy raking leaves in her yard. no answer.

This evening I have supper in the oven... It's called Cavatini.. take Ground Beef, onions, red peppers, mushrooms, 2 cups of cooked rotini noodles. 1 can of tomatoes.. cook it altogether and put in shredded cheddar cheese.. put into a 9x9 casserole dish. put mozzerella cheese on top , cover and bake 350 for 30 minutes ...take cover off and bake another 6 mintues or until cheese is golden brown..
IT's quick and easy and so good.. I put applesauce on the side and Ta Da Supper~!~!

That's the most I have done all day.. IT felt good to do nothing but sit and read all my favorite blogs and have a great time doing that.. Have a great fall day.. It's 57 degrees here in Iowa...sunny and a great fall day~! Ta Ta For Now......

A-lot of work cleaning out one's garden

Decided to get the weeds cleaned out of my pereniel garden. WOW~! it was a lot of work...The birds had pretty much picked off all the seeds on those Coneflowers.. I planted one plant 2 years ago and look at it~! It's a prolific plant and guess I'll just have to replant some of this to another spot in the yard...

There that looks better. I left the Sedum for awhile longer. It's so beautiful in the fall and the birds like to pick off the bugs and anything else they can find..

This was a big mess.. I'm sure my work will be ahead of me this spring.. Have to get that grass out of there. It's a fight every year to pull the grass and make sure you get the runners..

See those ConeFlowers after being cut down near the big rock? There are 4 plants over there ready to grow in the spring..

My mailbox ~ I store my garden tools in so I don't have to go to the shed every time I need one. They keep nice and dry in there.. My garden gloves are in there too.

Oh my ~! it's a mess.. but it's all cleaned up now and ready for spring sprucing up for next years plants.. I should get some mulch and really put a bunch down now that it's cleaned up.

Ben is coming over this afternoon for a tractor ride with Grandpa Dee Dee. I see the snack rabbit there and guess I better get a snack in there before I go pick him up for daycare.

Ben is doing good with his cast. He is starting to try to walk on it so he can get around faster. Guess he hates crawling..

Well, it's time to go pick him up... Have a great fall everyone... Ta Ta For Now~!

Ben jumping on hay bales~~~Opps~! He fractured his leg.

While Rich was here ~on Sunday, we went to the E-I-E-I-O farm to do a little geocaching. While there, the kids ~ John, Kelly, Emily, Sophia and Ben decided it looked fun to go jumping on the huge hay bales. They are the big round ones.. There were probably 20 of these bales stacked next to each other. Ben was showing off his skill of jumping and jumping from one to the other.. OPPS~! he missed and poor thing hit wrong. Tracie (his mom) and Dad (Cory) took him to the Dr. the next day. The Dr. sent him to a bone specialist and after X-rays.. discovered Ben had fractured his tibia on the outside of his leg right above his ankle.. Poor guy.. It has slowed him down a little..
I saw Ben this evening.. (Thursday). His cast was itching him.. Cory said at daycare he played in the sand.. One of the helpers said 'We should of put a plastic bag over his leg ". I think that would be a YES~! the sand is going to be quite an irritation to him for the next 2 weeks.. I felt up as far as I could inside his cast and you can feel the grit of the sand.. Yikes~! I told Tracie maybe she needs to call the Dr. and see if his leg well be O.K with that sand in there.


Ben put this puzzle together.. on the box it says for 6+ ages.. He loves puzzles.. Glad he had something to take his mind off of the cast.. It's starting to itch.. Poor guy.

Ta Da ~!~! See GranAnnie I can follow directions.. This was a lego puzzle. It had a diagram picture for each step. He looked at the picture and snapped all the pieces together..

For a boy at 3 1/2 I think his motor skills are good.

I love his face~! smarty pants..

Rich and Lisa and family

Rich and Lisa and children came for a visit on Friday evening. I was so excited to see them.. Rich has three children,John,Kelly,Emily and Lisa has one,,Sophia age 5.. They came in the door about 10 p.m. and directly went to bed.. The next morning I hid their breakfast outside in plastic bags and labled each child's name on the bag. They had to go on a savenger hunt to find their breakfast.. Yeah~! for Rich,Lisa,Grandpa Dave and me..we got to drink our coffee for 15 minutes in peace. It was wonderful~!

This is Rich and Lisa... early morning Saturday.. Sunrise is just coming up. On Sunday after church 10/10/10 he went to the cache site that is on our farm and put a diamond ring in the cache.. Lisa had never gone geocaching before ~ so this was something new for her. www.geocaching.com

He took her to the geocache called "Zippity-do-dah" It's a bluebird house. GC1AQRF That is the cache number in case you want to go take a look. She found the cache ~ opened it up and found a Tiffany Ring Box.. oh my she was so excited.. She opened it up and it had a diamond ring inside.. Rich asked her to marry him and of course ~ she said "YES".. How romantic is that... We were all excited.. The kids were screaming with joy. Well, at least the girls.. John was surprised.. So then all the questions started flying ~~when is the wedding,, can I be the flower girl, are we going to build a bigger house , can I be the best man, So out came the paper with all the questions..I thought that was a really great idea.. That way Rich and Lisa didn't have to give them answers right away.. We are all happy and can hardly wait for the big day..There's a wedding to be planned.. Of course Kelly wants to be the wedding planner.. She is 11.. Lisa told her to google bridesmaid dresses and her and Sophia went and looked at all the dresses.. Oh such fun~!

Emily and I on Saturday morning got busy and made the pies.. Kelly and Sophia were with us for awhile. They cut up the apples. We made apple and cherry pies.. We had so much fun. Emily loved the flour. She had it all over her face and hands.

They smelled so good baking.. Glad we made them. Haven't had pie in such a long time. I used Splenda in the apple pie and it tasted good and came out O.K.

It was a great week-end filled with so much to do.. Dave gave them rides on the John Deere 530... I let John age 13 drive the Chevy truck..He was so nervous. He had never started a vehicle let alone drive one. I let him drive it in the driveway.. I told him I taught all my kids how to drive (4) and I could teach him. But he had to listen and do exactly what I said.. Of course the answer was "Yes". First thing he did was put his foot hard on the gas and then I said "Stop" and he put his foot hard on the brake petal.. He said "GranAnnie, my heart is beating fast"> I said 'Yes, it is, but it's O.K."... Now relax and just ease your foot onto the gas pedal and he did and it was a much better take off.. Good thing we have a fairly long driveway. The brake was still a bit too hard,,but he got the hang of it after awhile.. So for the first lesson ~ we didn't hit the shed, a tree or the house... Whew~! New drivers have to learn so much.. I wish he lived closer. Here in Iowa one can get their drivers permit at 14.. It's just a license to get them from school to home or work.. It's for the farm kids.. well at least that is the way it was when my kids were growing up. After my kids got their permit they drove the car wherever we went. A little nerve racking but how else are they going to learn..

We had a great time while they were here and now they are home and I miss them so..

Beautiful day today and sunny.. Going outside to work on flower garden.. If I don't get to it before it gets cold ~ I will regret it for next Spring...double the work...

Ta Ta For Now....

Rich and his new gal and family are coming ~!

I'm so excited. ~! Rich called me yesterday and said he and Lisa were coming to Iowa for the week-end.. Richard's wife died with cancer last year and he met a new gal.. Lisa is a wonderful gal.. She has a girl named Sophia age 5.. Rich has John age 13, Kelly age 11 and Emily age 9. John texted me a short time ago and said they were going to be here in an hour and 45 minutes.. I told him get ready we were going to make pies tomorrow.. He said that would be fun~! Dave , Lisa and Rich are going golfing tomorrow.. So GranAnnie has the kids. We are going to walk to the creek. then make the pies.. I bought the girls beading stuff so they can make bracelets or necklaces.

I bought this cement deer at Leone's sale.. She died this year at 102..her things went on sale at a auction last week-end.. Leone would every fall have me put this deer in her house. She called it Bambi.. and every spring I would bring it back outside. So for $10 I bought this little deer.. I have him sitting in front of our garage and when I'm in the kichen doing dishes I can see my little deer.. Brings back good memories of Leone.. She was a wondeful lady... (She was still driving a car at 100 years old..) She was remarkable.

I sure am glad that last Friday I got the itch to clean my house like company was coming. Today it was really easy to pick up and do a little cleaning to have the house ready for Rich and Lisa.. This morning I went to the dentist because yesterday I snezzed and my temporary front teeth fell out of my mouth and broke.. Oh my,, that was an awful feeling.. Ben thought I really looked funny and laughed at me with my teeth gone. So today the dentist made me new temporary teeth and I'm back to my smile again.. I get the permanent ones that are being made on Oct. 26th.. That will be nice.

Then I went to the grocery store and got all the food for all of us to eat for the week=end.. Sloppy Joe's for tomorrow and then Dave is going to make his famous spagetti sauce.. Sunday I'll make a chicken rice casserole. I bought all the fixings for somemores for our fire on Saturday night.. That will be fun~! The lanterns are filled and ready to hang into the tree for that warm cozy feeling. Good thing about this time of year ,,no bugs..

Boy have you been outside??? the stars are magnificent... they are so bright.. Jupitor is in full bloom and is very bright... I took my binoculars out and looked at it and it was really bright.. Someday I'll get me a good telescope and I will really be able to look at the moon, planets and the stars.

The house is ready and I'm now just waiting for my family to arrive.. It will be a noise of laughter and "HI's" kisses and hugs. and gather all their things into the house. Lots of talking and then settle into bed and get a good nights sleep. Time will go fast ~! But I will love them and make lots of memories while they are here.

Have a great week=end... Ta Ta For Now~!~!~!

The pepers look happy ~ I cleaned out the garden yesterday and this is what is left.. Mr. Skunk was delighted to see fresh vegetables.

These are the pumpkins that I was able to carry out.. There are two big ones that I couldn't pick up or roll out of the garden.. I'll have to get someone with muscles to get those. I love fall and all the vibrant colors that you see.. These are all from one seed. There are 2 huge ones at Ben's house. So from one seed I got quite a few pumpkins.. 11 in all.

I gathered all the yard ornaments that were in the garden and in the yard.. They are all back in their places ready to be stored for winter, then back outside next spring.

We have a shade tree we sit in outside in the evening.. I hang the lanterns in the tree and it makes this area look very cozy. We have a fire pit and roast hot dogs, and of course one can't have a fire without marshmallows, graham crackers and hershey candy bars.. They taste so good. When the grandkids come it's very festive.

My sister-in-law painted the scare crows on picket fence material.. I thought they were so cute. Good thing I have this area in the big shed to store my things.

After I got everything put away, I went to the neighbors house, Lori and we had a cup of hot tea.. She is such a delight.. She is a young gal who is in her early 40's and has 3 children. We had a great time visiting.

A flurry of Crackles moved into the area this morning. My yard is just covered.. I thought they were gone. Guess not.. Couple of weeks my feeders were empty and now I have lots of varity of birds. The junco's are back they are the true winter bird that comes back in the fall. Like the red wing blackbird/robins in the spring. You know spring is here when you see those two birds.. Now we are into winter and the junco's are here. I love the birds and enjoy watching them near the house. Someone asked me why do you feed the birds..they have plenty to eat in the pasture.. I said " I feed the birds because I like to see them right next to the house." I don't want to walk to the pasture in the freezing cold this winter to see them.. Plus they don't sit still for long out there.

Going to Tracie's house today to finish up the garage.. I'll be glad when that project is over. I have lost another 3 pounds doing this, so that is a good thing. We have had gorgeous weather all week long and I'm taking advantage of it so I can get this done...

My son, Rich and my grandchildren (3) will be coming Friday evening.. and stay until Monday.. His girlfriend, Lisa and her 5 year old daughter, Sophie will be coming too. I'm planning a fun filled week-end with them all.. It's been awhile since they were here. So get out the croquet set, gps for geocaching, and the tennis balls for the dog.. And get the fire pit in place for the hot dog roasting and somemores and sitting by the fire.. Guess I'll have to go back and get the lanterns in place. Maybe I can get PaPa Dee Dee to borrow a wagon from the neighbor and drive the tractor in the field for a hayrack ride. Wonder what the moon is doing over the week-end.. WEll, have to look on the calendar.

Well, everyone have a great day...Must get busy.. Ta Ta For Now~!~!