Jumping Ben~!

Ben loves jumping on anything, whether it's tractor tires or these rocks.. He leaped from rock to rock and then started all over again.. It was so much fun to watch him...
        Today was a busy day of buying groceries at WalMart and then Aldi's.  Met Tracie at Walmart and we shopped together.. Then we went to the Golden Palace , Chinese restaurant and had lunch.. We had a great time talking about her interview she had with Dr. Johnson who is a chiropractor.. Tracie graduated from Massage Therapy School in August.. Dr. Johnson wants her to come to his office and do massages for his patients.. She was really excited about this offer.. She will start soon doing this.. She has a place where she gives massages already and this will give her a different place to do what she does best. She is really good at massaging and I feel so good when I get one..  So proud of her ~!  When I got home from town there was a truck here with two men.. They were putting gutters onto our house.. It only took them just a little bit to get this done.  They were quick~!   Maybe it will help when it rains now to take the water away from the house.. We have been needing this for quite some time..   Tomorrow the workers will be here to put the new windows on the porch and the new door.. Oh I can hardly wait.. It's going to look so nice out there.  Then the new flooring and ta da I can have this porch for a sitting room.  YEAH~! I'll have to take pictures...
    Taking care of Ben this evening.. Ben and Dave are in the living room having a tractor pull with the toy John Deere Tractors.. Lots of noise going on in the other room.  They are having fun~!  At supper time Ben has decided that the boys eat in the living room and the girls eat in the kitchen.. So I set up their trays and they had supper while watching Thomas the Train Video.. I actually loved it,,I had a nice quiet time eating my supper..
     It's almost time to take him home and get his bath and ready for bed..  We are going to play a game of Parcheesi before he finally goes to bed.  Tracie is giving a massage this evening and she will be home later to put him to bed.. It's picture day for him at school tomorrow so guess Tracie will have to pick out something for him to wear. He will probably want to wear his new Mario/Luigi shirt.   She bought new PJ's for him the other day.. He was so excited.  Of course they were Mario P.J.'s..
    The junco (birds) have arrived.. They are considered to be the first sign that winter is arriving when they come to the yard.. I was disappointed that the red wing Black birds showed up the other day.. A whole flock of them.. Yikes~! I thought I was rid of them and they went south.. Where did they come from.?  It's 43 degrees this evening and chilly outside.. We are suppose  to get a hard freeze tonight so everything in the morning will be shriveled up.  It's that time of year...
     Time to take Ben home,, Have a great evening and ta ta for now from Iowa:)
   

Kathleen's Fabric Locker Hooking

This is my new project.. Don't know if you have heard of making rugs this way, but it's really fun and when one gets done you have something that is durable and useful. You will need this book that you see pictured above.  Kathleen's Fabric Locker Hooking by Kathleen Carpenter.  Things you will need is a 6" long crochet hook with the eye of a needle at the opposite end.  One Latch Hook Rug Canvas- this is a mesh canvas that has 3.75 squares per inch and is usually the base for latch hook rugs.  Cotton string, scissors, rotary cutter and mat, and of course the book to tell you how to make one of these rugs.   I bought my crochet hook and rug canvas at my favorite quilt shop in Marion, Iowa.  You can order it online It says in the book she got her from M.C.G. Textiles.  and the twine can be ordered from there too. 100% Cotton Locker Hooking Twine. 100 yards.www.mcgtextiles.com    I used some of my quilting material that was left over from quilts I had made. Cut them into 1 inch strips.  It says this rug is washable, but don't put into dryer.  It can be vacumned   Kathleen tells you in the book to do a small project first like a hot pad and then you can do a bigger project. The hot pads are great gifts and are very nice.  Traditional locker hooking was first developed in England during the 1900's to make wool rugs..  This is a great way to make use of your fabric remnants.

Uncle Rich encouraging Ben~!

Uncle Rich was here last week-end and here is more pictures of Ben at Bloomsbury Farm.. He jumped from tire to tire with Uncle Rich encouraging him all the way...Ben jumped from tire to tire not just once but 3 times around..This was a great place to take him.  I thought sure when we got in the car he would go right to sleep~ Nope~! He talked all the way home and told us all about his day.. He had such a great time.. I gave him his bath when we got to my house.. He settled down in my bed and I read 4 books to him and then lights out.. In less than 10 minutes he was asleep.. He decided that he wanted to stay the night at my house so he could see Uncle Rich in the morning.    Rich was here with 2 of his children, Kelly and Emily. Lisa his wonderful wife has one wonderful girl, Sophia..she is 6.  Lisa and Rich were married last Feb. She is a awesome girl and I just love her...

Today was a chilly day with lots of wind.. I made Chili this morning.. It really tasted good for lunch. Worked on my bible study for Monday night.  Cleaned my house and then settled into my recliner and watched football games with Dave.  I'm making a large rug.  It's called Locker Hooking.  It's really turning out nice. It can be vacuumed  and it can be washed but not to put it in the dryer.   I should take a picture and post it tomorrow.  Locker Hooking is so much fun to do and easy.  I got quite a lot done today. Glad that Ohio State won today.  Good game.  They played Illinois.

Here is a picture of Uncle Rich and Aunt Lisa.. The soybeans look so gold with the sun shining on them.. The next day the combine showed up and everyone got to take turns riding in the combine and watching the beans being harvested.. It was a great day~!

Had to turn on the heat today, just enough to take the chill off the house and then I turned it off..  Propane Gas is $1.89 a gallon... Pretty high.   Electric bill came today and I was surprised it was only $53.  With not having to run the air conditioner it's really nice.  It was a sunny day today but lots of wind.. I still went outside and did my 20 minute walk..I feel so much better if I get my walk in everyday..

Time for bed.. This morning I thought it was Sunday.. I called my friend Holly and asked her what page we were on with our Bible Study for church.. She said "Anne it's only Saturday.". How can one lose a day so quickly.
Have a Tiggeriffic Day~ ta ta for now from Iowa:)

Had a Corny Time at Bloomsbury Farm~~~

When Rich was here with his family last week-end,  we went to Bloomsbury Farm in Atkins, Iowa.. The kids had so much fun with all that was there.. Ben was on the run and tried to do everything.  He loved riding these wooden  horses.

Ben is jumping on the big blow up tarp.. He had so much fun running and running and then jumping and jumping.. He was non-stop~! He has on the bright green shirt. That way his Mom ~ Tracie and I could keep track of him...we were here for 6 hours at this farm and Ben never stopped going from one thing to another.. 

 This place is huge ~ and Ben was able to stop long enough for me to take his picture. Wish you could see his face it's so dirty.. The corn activated his allergies.. His eyes and nose were running all day. Wipe~Wipe~Wipe~!  Didn't bother him one bit he just enjoyed the day..

This is where he had the most fun.. He rode this pedal car for along time. He must have legs of steel, He rode this bike around and around the track 20 times before he took a break.. Strong boy~! . When it was time to leave he didn't want to go..

       

Today was a busy day for me.. I'm getting things taken off the porch that is connected to the kitchen. I had a lot of antique wood tools, 2 corn shellers,  lots of pulleys that came out of the old barn that used to be on this property and the old barn we had when we lived in Ohio..  Wooden handled wrenches, John Deere tools, wooden planes and a lot more stuff.  I took them out to the metal pole building for right now. Planning on selling them.   My porch is now empty and ready to have new windows installed and new door and new flooring.  I'm going to make it into a sitting room where I can go and read and relax. Bring my sewing machine down and work on a project and then take it back upstairs to the sewing room.  My sewing room is so small I thought this would be a nice sunny room to sew when I want to make a quilt or something.  It's been a lot of work.. 1/2 of the things I took over to Anamosa to a consignment store. Wish now I would of taken a picture of the walls that were filled with stuff..  But I'm excited on having a change and a new room. Next spring I'm planning on having a deck built right outside this room and that will be a nice thing to have to sit outside next Spring/Summer and Fall...  

       Took all the lawn furniture to the metal building today and put it away.  Got all the shepherd hooks that had hummingbird feeders away.  Ready for the cool breezes to start blowing and winter to arrive.   Last year I waited to long and man oh man it was a cold chilly day and windy.. Decided to get this done before all that comes again.  It's 48 right now.. Only going to get up to 55 tomorrow.. So chilly weather is upon us with a chance of a hard freeze next week...  Probably have Indian Summer for a few days ~ that is always welcomed.  

         Have a Tiggeriffic Day ~!  So glad I have a computer now that works and is fast.   ta ta for now from Iowa:)

Ben jumping on his trampoline~!

         This is the first video I have ever accomplished and actually got it to go on my blog.. Hoo-ray~!~!
Ben is such a busy boy I thought I would give you a view of just how busy he really is by showing you. As you can see he loves Luigi and Mario.  and he has a WII game of Mario Brothers.. Not sure what he is showing here but he was having fun.. It had rained and the trampoline was very wet but that didn't stop him.. He put on his favorite green frog boots and off he went..   Hope you enjoy watching Ben the busy boy.
      This week-end Rich and Lisa came for a visit. Kelly, Emily and Sophia came too.  We had so much fun. We went to Bloomberry Pumpkin Farm that is in Atkins, Iowa and had a fun filled day of all the activities that they offer.  I'll put some pictures on tomorrow and show you.  It was wonderful to have here.
       Time to go to my quilting group that is not too far from here.. Sharon makes the best tea and she usually has something good to eat.   I have a new computer now. well, it was Rich's laptop and he gave it to me.. How wonderful it is to actually use a computer that is fast.. I'm in hog heaven.
      Have a tiggeriffic day~! ta ta for now from Iowa~!~!