Jessie and the Broken Bones

Although it's her right arm this time. At least it's not her writing hand (lefty).

The kids crashed the 4 wheeler thursday night. After talking to Tyler last night, and talking to Jessie, we are fairly certain of what happened, but I was around the corner waiting on them to return and didn't see it.

I'll write more later, but after 28 hours in ER's and hospitals (we went first to Wooster Community, and then to Akron Children's since she had a broken blood vessel behind her eye) and surgery on her arm (the surgery part was simply to knock her out to reset the bone -it was the closed reduction procedure) we are home. And she is oh so happy to be home.

So now we are off to Tyler's soccer game and then home to back on the couch for a couple days for her. The doctors said after a week of rest, she can resume gym and soccer - so we shall see. She's already 100% more mobile after this broken arm than the broken leg. And she's planning on going to school on Monday.

Kris

Combine Derby

We went to the Ashland County fair last night for the combine derby - what a HOOT!

First they had a garden tractor derby - there is no way I would do this - you are too exposed! There was a husband and wife team in there - they had to stop the derby at one point and tell them both that he needed to run into her (when there were 3 drivers left - the husband, the wife, and 1 other one). As Todd said I wouldn't be running into her either - she'll make his life a living &%)#% at home.

Then the combines. They actually had 12 combines out there, and did heats of 4 combines each. The kids all had a blast cheering on their favorites.

Sorry for the dark photos - it was about 10:00 taking the pictures of the combines, and I just figured out last night that my camera has a night setting for pictures. Plus we were about 300 yards away up in the grandstand.

Late night, but oh so much fun. I could drive a combine or a car - but definitely NOT a garden tractor.

And thanks for all the great suggestions everyone! Tyler's preschool teacher was sitting right next to us last night, and she was saying how she loved to receive homemade gifts for christmas last year, especially food ones. So for her and her hubby, I'm thinking a pizza basket is in order (pizza crust mix, tomato sauce, spices, pepperoni and a red and white checked apron).

Free time

I finally got some uninterrupted sewing time (well, except for being interrupted by kids, which is no interruption at all) in between drying herbs and saucing tomatoes last night. And actually, it's not Tyler who interrupts me - he is the greatest child - he will play by himself for hours on end ....I won't hear a peep out of him.


So I made this quilt block:





Yes, I freehanded and winged it - some of the seams don't line up, but I want to use black felt for the roofs, the door and a cross on the steeple.


And I made this apron for a christmas gift - it's reversible (don't know for who yet but....):





I have an idea for a lap quilt, done out of civil war reproduction fabrics, including the church block above. We'll see if this works, or if I will get mad and give up on it.


I'm horrible about sewing without patterns - if the pattern is in a color choice I don't particularly like, it turns me off the pattern. Likewise, I hate trying to pull fabrics together for a quilt (which is why I buy a lot of collections, like the 30's repros, the firetruck fat quarter kit or fat quarter packs)....guess maybe I don't have enough imagination?



It's cooler here - not making it out of the high 60's. We have power, and have the entire time except for about 4 hours on Sunday. But so many of our neighbors and family members do not - in fact we got a call from a friend at 5:30 yesterday morning wanting to know if he could use our generator (after getting the call from my BIL on hooking up his generator at 10:30 Monday night!)



Now I'm thinking of Christmas presents and what I can make for everyone this year. We don't have thousands (or even hundreds) of extra $$ laying around, and I hate to waste what we do have on the items that while nice, won't last as long, and I certainly don't want to buy for the sake of buying. So I'm thinking and making lists, for teachers, babysitters, nieces and nephews, and friends' kids and Jessie and Tyler - what in the heck can I make these people that will be appreciated and enjoyed?


Any suggestions?

Kris

On Drying

I thought I'd take a walk when I got home - to make sure there is nothing pressing in the garden. With the fair last week, I let everything slide. BIG mistake (both taking a walk and letting everything slide:))!

So now I'm saucing up 1 last bushel of paste tomatoes, drying 1 last pint of basil and oregano, and I have to do something with the 1/2 bushel of hot peppers. And there's probably another 1/2 bushel of hot peppers out there to pick (but my basket was full). Habaneros, jalapenos, chili and Hungarian wax.

I'm voting for running them through the dehydrator. But Todd just mentioned on the phone canning them.

My response was that's fine - as long as you are going to help me do this!.

These are the yellow onions I ran through the dehydrator a few weeks ago. And oh how yummy they are in any dish that needs onions!:

I can tell summer is on it's way out.....

Kris

Bag Swap

Look at what I received from Jeanette - all the way from Finland - my bag from Linda's bag swap!! Oh how I love it!!!


I love the stitching on it - the chickens, cow and the horse pincushion.







And she filled it with so many extra goodies! Some of which were already put to use (especially the sewing needles - I am forever loosing mine - maybe because I had no place special to keep them?)



THANK YOU SO MUCH JEANETTE! This absolutely made my day!

Mine is on it's way to ???? but I won't be showing any pictures yet - it's a surprise!!
Kris

Newest Additions

What a great weekend!

Jessie's soccer game was canceled due to lightning and thunder Saturday morning. So we loaded up and went down to Millersburg (about an hour south of us) to pick up these 3 heifers that we brought over Labor Day:

It rained off and on most of Saturday morning/early afternoon - so I cleaned the house and did some sewing.

Then Sunday, Todd and I put halters on all 3 heifers, and wouldn't you know - Tyler jumps right in there to start working with them! The boy has no fear.

The black heifer (Ali) is the calmest of the bunch, although they are all very quiet. Tyler named one of the red ones "Mittens" and Jessie named the black one "Ali". They may never be shown, but we like all of our cows to at least be handleable - makes it easy if you ever have to work with them.

I hope everyone is doing well and recoving from Hurricane Ike. We had horrific winds all day yesterday - power off and on - lots of downed trees and limbs, and about 1/2 the siding was blown off the one end of our house.

Later,

Kris

Last Fair Day

Well, it's over. Demo derby is over. Animals are home. Decorations are down. The only thing left is the camper, which had a flat tire when we got there Saturday morning, so Todd has to get it fixed before the camper can come home.


The demo derby was such fun. I think I want to drive in it one of these years (I'd have a good excuse to crash into things!). We got in to sit with the fire department, since Todd was working the demo derby and the kids had a blast.

Yes, I'm a dork with my hat on backwards!

This is a friend of ours, who won his first heat, and then came back in the open jackpot heat and won that. Our friends' daughter, Allison, asked him if he made enough money to fix his car so he could bring it back next year:)

Going in:

Coming out (a little worse for the wear):




A really cool tribute car to 9/11. The photos don't do it justice (he had firefighter emblems all over the car):





And the kids cheering everyone on while standing on top of the firetruck. They were so loud, Todd could hear them down at the other end of the track where he was standing to make sure there were no fires in cars. There were only 3 fires - it was a good night.

Now I guess it's back to my garden and yard - see what's still surviving out there.

Kris